Oh, I love you, maybe
by macmillanluv
Summary: Oliver Wood has a little sister. Who knew? How will she deal with being in a different house, growing up and experiencing romantic feelings towards... Marcus Flint? No, that can't be right. It's a good thing she has friends to help her. MF/OC
1. Prologue

**Chapter 1: Prologue**

_September 1st, 1990  
_

Poppy Wood was extremely nervous. She was standing in front of a big hall full of people, all watching closely at what was happening around her. She was starting her first year at Hogwarts and the sorting ceremony had just started. She looked at the floating candles and gasped. The boy next to her threw her a look, as if to say "be quiet, idiot." Of course Poppy had seen magic before, just not this much all at once. The boy next to her was called out and he went to get sorted in to a house. Poppy thought she heard "Gryffindor" but then she saw boy stomping towards the Ravenclaw table. Good, at least now she wouldn't have him in her house. He seemed annoying.

Poppy didn't think she'd end up in Ravenclaw and that made her glad. She didn't think of herself as being smart and being around really smart people usually ended up annoying her. Poppy looked back and tried to see her brother, Oliver. Unfortunately there were still a lot of first years behind her and Poppy, as a short girl, failed to see anything. During the train ride Oliver had constantly been telling everyone, how his sister would surely be a Gryffindor like Oliver and all of his friends were. Poppy didn't really think that being in Gryffindor would be a big deal but she hoped she would be sorted there. Then Oliver would be happy and she would have him beside her all the time.

She fiddled with her blonde hair, that she had tied into two pigtails using ribbon. It was a nervous habit of hers. It would be a long time until they'd get to her name. She wasn't really paying attention to who was being sorted and where. She didn't think it was important, since she'd meet all of her classmates and learn their names later. As she was pondering what the classes would be like, Professor McGonagall called out her name. Poppy didn't hear her.

"Poppy Wood," McGonagall said louder.

"Oh... Yes right here!" Poppy answered in surprise. She felt humiliated when she heard people snickering as she went up. Way to make a good first impression, Poppy thought to herself. She sat on the stool while McGonagall placed the sorting hat on her head. Suddenly Poppy heard a voice inside her head. She knew this would happen but did it have to be so loud?

"Ahh," The Hat started, "I see you're very modest and loyal."

Poppy smiled but then remembered that everyone could see her and stopped.

"Very friendly and doesn't pass judgement on others... These are all traits that could get you put in Hufflepuff. But..."

Poppy didn't like this but. She had thought Hufflepuff would be great for her. She could have fun and not be pressured into being smart or courageous. What on earth did this but mean?

"You lack patience and the ability to play fair."

This hat had no idea what it was talking about, Poppy thought. Oliver had told her to always play fair, never cheat and just be a good person. She wasn't evil and she didn't like The Hat implying that she was.

"You have a lot of ambition and you tend to think before you act. You're clever and determined."

Okay, Poppy thought. Now it's sounding a little better.

"You are hard working, which would make you a good Hufflepuff, but I think I'll go with... SLYTHERIN!" The Hat bellowed the last word out loud. Slytherin? Oliver had told Poppy all about Slytherin and it didn't seem like the place for her. She would just have to make do. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

As she was walking towards her new house table, she heard somebody yell. Oliver had stood up and loudly yelled "What?!" McGonagall told him to sit down, to which he replied: "Not until we sort out this mess." McGonagall told him again and Dumbledore announced the feast as begun. A bunch of food appeared in front of Poppy and she looked around. She caught some other Slytherin first years looking at her and smiled at them. They immediately started eating and Poppy did the same. Clearly these people didn't like her. Or maybe they didn't like Oliver.

After the feast, while the other students went to their common rooms, Oliver insisted that McGonagall put Poppy in Gryffindor. Oliver and Poppy then had to follow professors McGonagall and Snape to an empty classroom.

"My sister is not a bloody Slytherin!" Oliver started. It was clear he was going to make some sort of a speech. Poppy knew he would.

"The Sorting Hat made its decision, Mr. Wood," McGonagall cut him off before he even got started. "And may I remind you, that you are the one insisting that we change Poppy's house, not Poppy herself."

"Well, she's just a kid," Oliver said.

"I can make up my own mind, Ollie," Poppy answered looking annoyed. She didn't necessarily want to be in Slytherin but she didn't want to make a big deal about it. "Obviously The Hat thought I would fit into Slytherin and I don't mind."

"Slytherin is a fine house with excellent students," Snape said to Oliver, who didn't look too pleased. "This just means that your sister is ambitious, goal-oriented, determined and resourceful. All of which are traits that apply to you, too, Mr. Wood."

And that was it. McGonagall sent Oliver to his common room and Snape escorted Poppy to hers. The dungeons were cold and Poppy was glad that she had packed an extra blanket. Snape let her in and immediately everyone's eyes turned to her. She was, after all, Gryffindor's quidditch captains sister. "The enemy." Poppy looked around her, there were skulls everywhere along with green and silver. The green leather armchairs didn't look comfortable. Suddenly someone spoke up.

"So, how's it feel being stuck with us monsters instead of the all-mighty lions?" A muscular boy with black hair asked. Poppy noted that his teeth were kind of bad and that he looked somewhat trollish.

"Oh, you know, same old same old," Poppy answered and made a move towards her dormitory.

"Are you any good at quidditch?" The boy asked. Now Poppy knew who he was. Marcus Flint, Oliver's sworn enemy and the Slytherin captain.

"I'm amazing," Poppy answered.

"Why don't you try out next year, if you're so good? I might make an exception and actually allow a girl to play," Flint commented and grinned in a way that suggested he wouldn't really make any kind of exception.

"Yeah, I won't do that," Poppy said and moved towards her dormitory again.

"Are you scared?" Flint asked and pulled a mocking sad face.

"No, I just promised myself I wouldn't try out until my fourth year, when you'll be gone," Poppy said, turned on her heels and went to her dormitory. She could hear Flint mumbling in the background: "What the hell did that mean?"

She _had _promised herself that. Right after she'd been sorted. Oliver had told her all about Flint and Poppy didn't want anything to do with him or his foul quidditch plays. So far she hadn't met anybody in her own house that she could befriend. All the girls in the dormitory were glaring at her as she changed clothes. These were going to be a long seven years.


	2. I am woman, hear me roar

**Chapter 2: I am woman, hear me roar**

_September 1st, 1993_

"Are you sure you have everything?" Oliver asked her sister as they were about to get on the Hogwarts Express.

"Ollie, we have five minutes until the train leaves. If I've forgotten something, then there's really nothing we can do," Poppy answered and sighed. It was nice that her brother tried to take care of her but his constant questions were beginning to bug her. "I'll just go find my friends, OK?"

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Oliver yelled after her and she just turned around and sighed again. Then she got on the train and tried to find her two best friends in the whole world.

During her second week at Hogwarts, Poppy had thought she'd never find any friends there. She was out by the lake reading a book and weeping when two girls approached her. They immediately became friends and had stayed that way for Poppy's three years in Hogwarts. She was about to start her fourth year, while her friends were in their fifth. They were also both in Hufflepuff and didn't mind Poppy's "status" at all.

The first one, Gracie Rowbottom, was a bit taller than Poppy and had dark brown, short and curly hair and blue eyes. She was really skinny but still looked healthy. She had a tiny, upturned button nose and small eyes that would glisten whenever she would get an idea. And the other one, Rosalind Cooke, had dirty blonde hair that nearly went down to her waist and grey, roundish eyes. She was very tall. Nowhere near Oliver's height but compared to her friends she was very tall. Her bodytype was what a lot of boys described as ideal. She wasn't too small or too big anywhere. She had some curves but she was still athletic. She turned down most boys, though, and said that she had standards. Gracie had standards, too, but they were slightly lower and she had had many boyfriends. She didn't mind her reputation, since she knew none of the stuff said about her was true.

Poppy hadn't had a boyfriend. She was only fourteen so she hadn't really even thought about having a boyfriend. Over the summer Poppy had hit puberty and gotten scared of all the changes that were happening. She gained weight, which settled into her chest area along with her bum. She was used to being stick-skinny, so all these changes were really hard for her. As the summer passed, she had gotten more comfortable with herself and her new, hourglass figure. She still kept her blonde, shoulder-length hair in pigtails and occasionally braided them. Poppy had dark green eyes and she was still extremely short. She had stopped growing a year ago and didn't really mind her height. The one thing that she did mind, was her nose. She felt that it was too big compared to those of her friends. She did, however, think that it suited her full lips. Her friends had really small noses, though, so Poppy really shouldn't have had a complex.

"For Merlin's sake," Poppy heard Gracie yell when they bumped into each other on the train corridor. "Why didn't you tell us you've become a woman?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I did put up an announcement in The Daily Prophet, you must've missed it," Poppy joked and hugged Gracie and then Rosalind.

"Have you seen any empty compartments?" Rosalind asked and Poppy shook her head.

"There aren't any in the front part of the train," she said. "Maybe we should move forward."

They finally found an empty compartment and settled in. Gracie complained that she wanted sweets.

"Well, the cart lady won't be here for at least an hour, so you just have to deal with it," Rosalind said and opened her book.

"You're not going to read right now," Poppy said and ripped the book out of Rosalind's hands. "We're supposed to be catching up!"

"Okay fine," Rosalind said and put the book in her bag. "We've been writing to each other all summer, so I have nothing left to tell. You're more than welcome to share, though."

"You truly are a pessimist," Gracie said and rolled her eyes. She then turned towards Poppy. "How're you and Oliver doing now?"

Poppy and Oliver's father had left when she was just a baby and since then they had been living with their mother. Until now. Oliver turned seventeen during the summer and they moved out. Their apartment was small but it was all they could afford. Their mother sometimes lost contact with reality and would wander around speaking to herself. She wasn't a very good mother, Poppy always thought. Oliver had practically raised her even though he was only four when their father left. Oliver was more than a brother to her, he was like a father figure. Well, he was certainly a better father figure than the losers their mother brought home with her. One of them was what pushed Oliver over the ledge, made him pack all of their belongings and leave without even saying goodbye.

"Oh, we're fine," Poppy said, "Much better than before. We even got jobs, can you believe it?"

"Really? Where?" Rosalind asked. This was new information for the girls, since Poppy wanted to surprise them. Well, to be honest, she didn't want them showing up at her work and embarrassing her.

"Oliver worked at the quidditch shop in Diagon Alley and I sold strawberries at a muggle store!" Poppy told them with excitement. In the wizarding world it was unusual for fourteen-year-olds to be working but apparently muggle children start applying for jobs at an early age.

"Oh wow, that must have been exciting," Gracie said with her eyes wide open. "We know you really like them muggles."

"Just because I take muggle studies doesn't mean that... Oh, fine, muggles are bloody interesting," Poppy said.

"You should meet my mum," Gracie commented.

"And my dad," Rosalind added.

The rest of their journey they talked about everything that came to mind. Mostly about boys. Gracie had met some cute muggle boy and went on a date with him. Then she'd met his friend, who was even cuter, and went out with him, too. The boys had a fight and Gracie finally had to tell them she didn't need that much drama in her life. Rosalind had been approached by a number of men, not boys, during the summer. She spent a lot of her time reading outside, mostly in the park, which is where these men spotted her and tried chatting her up. They didn't have much of a chance though, since after they said "hello" she told them she was only fifteen. The men gave up pretty quickly. They also graded some of the boys at Hogwarts. Poppy's friends both gave Oliver a nine, to which she simply said "Eww, I don't want to hear that you fancy my brother."

Terence Higgs got an average of eight while Adrian Pucey beat him by half a point. Poppy said Cedric Diggory was an eight, Gracie muttered something about a ten and Rosalind said he was a six. When asked why, she said she preferred brains over brawl. Fred Weasley was given a seven and a half while his twin George won the girls over with his personality and earned himself an eight.

Shortly after The Great Dementor Invasion of 1993 the train arrived at the Hogsmeade station. It was very dark so they didn't see the shops but Gracie swore she could feel the presence of Honeydukes. Poppy and Rosalind laughed at this comment when they got on their carriage which was the last one leaving to the castle. Gracie and Rosalind sat opposite Poppy. As they were about to take off, they heard a boys voice: "Wait! Don't leave yet!" The thestrals pulling the carriage jolted and Gracie fell on Poppy's lap. Two boys then climbed on. Poppy couldn't immediately see them because Gracie was still scrambling her way off the floor and Poppy's lap. When she finally saw their new companions, she couldn't believe her eyes.

"Marcus Flint?" Poppy gasped. They boy sitting next to Marcus was Adrian Pucey.

"Umm, do I know you?" Flint asked with a puzzled look and then, as the thestrals finally took off, he moved his eyes up and down Poppy's body. Then he smirked.

"Well, I am in your house," Poppy said slightly annoyed at Flint's "subtlety."

"Oh," Flint said. "What's your name?"

"Poppy," Poppy answered. Her friends were snickering a little. This was the same Marcus Flint that had hated Poppy's brother for probably an eternity and hadn't really taken a liking to Poppy either.

"Oh, right," Flint said. It was obvious he still couldn't place her name or face. It was also obvious that he didn't really care. Poppy felt slightly insulted since for the past three years Flint had said something mean about her brother to her everytime she had walked past him. She thought that it would've been enough to recognise somebody even after they've "grown up." And what the hell was he still doing in Hogwarts?

After that Flint started talking to Adrian about quidditch and the girls were listening in, Poppy slightly more interested than the other two. Gracie only liked quidditch because of the cute players and Rosalind didn't really care for the game at all. And Poppy, well, she had grown up with Oliver Wood, the biggest quidditch maniac in all of Hogwarts.

**

After the sorting ceremony and feast, Poppy, Gracie and Rosalind decided to go to the Hufflepuff common room. Hufflepuffs didn't mind having Poppy around since they were very open-minded people. If Poppy had tried to bring her friends to the Slytherin common room, she probably would've been beaten to death. That's at least what she thought.

Poppy didn't stay very long, since she was supposed to be back at her own common room at nine. It was nine when she left and ten minutes later she finally reached the cold dungeons. Poppy entered the common room and was amazed when it was nearly empty. Flint was sitting on one of the green leather chairs. Everybody else was probably in their own dormitories, catching up and telling each other about their summers. Poppy was about to go sleep, since the train ride had been exhaustingly long, when Flint spoke.

"I know who you are," he said.

"Yeah, I told you about three hours ago," Poppy answered.

"No, I mean I know you're Wood's sister," Flint said and smirked. Poppy had taken off her robe and was wearing her school uniform, which was very flattering now. "Adrian told me when we got to the castle.""Oh, right. Great," Poppy said and was about to leave again but Flint still had something to say.

"So, what year are you in now? Sixth?" he asked.

"Fourth."

"What, really? You don't look fourteen."

"Thank you, I guess."

She then quickly exited the room, leaving Flint pondering whether or not she was lying.


	3. Quidditch and loathing in Hogwarts

**A/N**: Sorry for not updating in a long time! Thanks for the few reviews and story alerts!

**Chapter 3: Quidditch and loathing in Hogwarts**

Poppy was soaring through the air, catching every single quaffle thrown her way. She could feel the wind in her hair and see tiny people on the ground. The tiny people were watching her and judging her. Poppy grinned by herself. She had done great and she knew tryouts had been announced and Poppy wanted to be on the team. Flint didn't really matter to her anymore, he would be gone in a year anyway. If he didn't fail his N.E.W.T.s again, that is. So Poppy had gotten her broom and gone to the tryouts without telling her friends or Oliver. She had broken the promise she had made herself but she didn't care. The promise had been brought on by Oliver's stories and opinions, not by her own. Poppy had thought that perhaps it was time to decide things for herself and not let Oliver influence flew towards the ground and stopped in front of Flint. She got off her broom and smiled cheekily. He was looking at her with amazement which suddenly turned into a sneer. Poppy had gotten used to this look so she wasn't surprised that she wasn't greeted with applause.

"So?" Poppy asked, wiping sweat from her forehead. "How did I do?"

"To be honest, you were great. But I'm not gonna put you on the team," Flint answered and turned around to face his team members. Poppy tapped him on his broad shoulder and he turned again.

"What? Why not?" she asked, slightly annoyed.

"The Slytherin team doesn't let girls play," Flint said simply. Now Poppy was really annoyed.

"So that's just your own rule then?"

"Slytherins have always preferred that girls cheer in the stands and party with the team afterwards", Flint said and was about to turn around again.

"There hasn't been much partying after Potter came along," Poppy remarked.

"Is there anything else or can I go talk to my team now?" Flint questioned. He was clearly not happy with Poppy.

"Put me on the team," she demanded.

"Why should I go against tradition?"

"Because I'm a better keeper than whoever that guy over there is. Hell, I'd probably be better at any position than the team you have now. Which isn't really much of a surprise, since you apparently choose your players based on their size and not their skills!" Poppy ranted. She could see Flint's smug smile fading away and she liked it.

"Insulting my team and my choices isn't going to get you very far, little girl," Flint said raising his tone of voice a little. Poppy had been around scary men before, so this didn't startle her.

"You have no girls on the team," she said.

"I thought we already went through this part," Flint answered.

"All the other teams do. Girls understand other girls better," Poppy stated.

"So, what, you want to belong to some secret quidditch club for girls where you do your hair and talk about boys," Flint mocked and turned his head to see his team laughing with him.

"Okay, I'm going to say this in a very simple way so you can understand: girls play differently."

"Yeah, worse." Another roar of laughter.

"Just put me on the team and maybe you'll win something. I know I'm not as good as Oliver, but I'm pretty darn good."

"No."

"Fine. I'll let you think about it."

"My final answer is no"

"When you change your mind, I'm sure you'll find me somewhere."

She could hear him muttering something as she left the field. That went well, she thought. She reached the castle and was about to go change her clothes when she ran into Oliver. She turned around and was about to head the other way but it was too late. Oliver had seen her.

"Poppy Wood, you stop right there!" Oliver yelled.

Poppy stopped and turned. Oliver was stomping towards her.

"Hi, Ollie, what's up?" Poppy asked smiling.

"Your broom for one thing," Oliver said and looked at Poppy's athletic clothing. "And your clothes. What have you been doing?"

Poppy muttered something.

"You did what?" Oliver yelled.

"I tried out for the quidditch team!" Poppy yelled back.

"But Flint's still here," Oliver said looking extremely confused with his wide eyes and blank expression.

"I know, but if I want to be captain in two years, I have to start now," Poppy tried to reason. She didn't really want to be captain but the excuse might work on Oliver.

"But it's Flint," Oliver muttered.

"So? He didn't even seem that bad," Poppy said, lying only a little.

"He's horrible."

"As a captain you are, too."

"He's horrible all the time!" Oliver yelled.

"I don't care. I didn't even make the team, so stop bugging me," Poppy said and sighed.

"But-- What? You didn't? Why are we arguing then?" Oliver said looking even more confused.

"Because you're being stupid. And I'm going to be on that team by the end of this week," Poppy said smugly.

"How exactly is that going to happen?"

"I don't know. It just will."

"Fine, whatever."

They said their goodbyes and continued in their own directions. Poppy knew somewhere deep inside Oliver was proud of her. She smiled and thought that after telling Oliver, telling Gracie and Rosalind would be the easiest thing ever. She was met her friends by the lake at noon. It was their saturday tradition and she was running a bit late after having to shower and change clothes. She saw Gracie waving at her and ran towards her friends. They layed on the grass and talked about how school had been so far. It had been two weeks since school started and before trying out for the team, Poppy had wondered why the tryouts were held so early. Her thoughts went racing back to tryouts and how Flint had said no and she thought it would be a good time to reveal the news to her friends.

"So, I had astronomy last night and I think it's getting too difficult for me. I mean I love the subject but I don't know if it has any value to me. What do you--," Gracie was saying when Poppy cut her off.

"Sorry, Grace, but I have some news," Poppy said and looked at her friends smirking.

"You have a boyfriend!" Gracie shouted.

"You're quitting muggle studies!" Rosalind said.

"No and no. And what have you got against muggle studies?" Poppy said with a puzzled look.

"It's not useful," Rosalind responded. "But if it's not that then what?"

"I'm going to be on the Slytherin quidditch team!" Poppy said loudly and smiling. Her friends looked bewildered. "I mean, I'm not on it yet but I will be."

"So... You went to the tryouts and didn't get picked?" Gracie said.

"But you're going to be on the team anyway?" Rosalind continued.

"Yes, that's pretty much it," Poppy said, still glowing.

"Why?" Rosalind asked while Gracie tested Poppy's forehead for fever.

"I want to play," Poppy said simply while pushing Gracie off of her. Gracie fell to the ground and giggled.

"She fancies him!" she stated after getting up again.

"I do not!" Poppy yelled. "I mean... Who?"

"Flint of course, it's so obvious," Gracie said and nodded rapidly.

"It does make sense," Rosalind stated."You have hated him forever and now you suddenly want to play on his team."

"Oh, come on, Ros, I thought you were smarter than that," Poppy said and rolled her eyes. Her friends were clearly crazy. "I don't fancy anybody, especially Flint. I loathe him with every fiber of my being."

"Right," Gracie and Rosalind said at once."So, when will we know if you make the team?" Rosalind asked.

"Oh, I don't know. I didn't exactly give Flint a time limit to changing his mind," Poppy said and laughed. "But I expect it will happen soon."


	4. Big bad Slytherin monster

**Chapter 4: Big bad Slytherin monster**

It had been two weeks since her tryouts and Poppy was getting anxious. She hadn't thought about the possibility that Flint wouldn't change his mind. She had thought that he would realize how bad his current keeper was and how Poppy would be perfect for the team. Rosalind and Gracie tried cheering her up but Poppy said she didn't need cheering up. She was fine.

"I don't care about Flint or his stupid team," Poppy ranted almost everyday which suggested that she did, indeed, care. This day was no exception. The girls were waiting for Poppy's herbology class to begin. Rosalind and Gracie didn't have a class so they kept Poppy company and tried to distract her thoughts.

"It's almost time for the first Hogsmeade visit," Gracie responded. "We can go to Honeydukes."

"Maybe we should go and buy everything in there and force-feed it to Flint," Poppy said and noticed professor Sprout approaching. "You should go now."

Gracie and Rosalind left while Poppy and her classmates poured into the greenhouse. Poppy loved herbology but even that couldn't cheer her up. They were working with bouncing bulbs and Poppy didn't even feel like answering the professor's questions about the plant. She knew basically everything about it but was too busy thinking about Flint and his stupid decisions. Her thoughts were interrupted by somebody entering the greenhouse. Poppy assumed it would be Cho Chang who was always late, but Cho was standing right next to her. Poppy, along with others, turned her head towards the door.

"Ah, Mr. Flint, what can I do for you today?" Professor Sprout asked. "Perhaps you'd like to borrow another one of my books?"

"Not today, professor, thank you," Flint answered and searched the greenhouse with his eyes when he finally spotted Poppy. "I would like to borrow Miss Wood for a few minutes, though. Professor Snape needs to see her."

Poppy couldn't come up with any reason why Snape would need to see her but she had to go. Professor Sprout told her to come right back and Poppy could hear all the other students whispering about her as she left.

"Snape probably heard about how she spends her days at the Hufflepuff common room," somebody said.

"I heard she was caught in a broom closet with some boy," Cho Chang whispered.

"No, I think that was her friend," a girl standing next to Cho responded. "I wouldn't be too surprised, though. Who keeps company with wolves learns to howl, right?"

Poppy followed Flint for a while when he suddenly stopped.

"What is it now, Flint?" Poppy asked in an annoyed tone.

"Snape doesn't need to see you," he responded and looked taken aback by her. "I do."

"Oh, great. Did you interrupt my class just to make some mean remark?" Poppy said and looked at Flint. It would be so like him to do something like this.

"Actually, no," Flint responded. "I came to tell you that you're on the team. I'm starting to regret my decision, though."

"Lovely, Flint, very lovely. Out of all your jokes, this is definitely the most cruel."

"It's not a joke."

He looked dead serious. Poppy wasn't sure if Flint was telling the truth but she decided to go with it.

"So, if I go and ask anybody on the Slytherin team, they will tell me that your keeper was replaced with me?" Poppy asked.

"Well, they know he is being replaced but I thought I would introduce you to them while announcing you as our new keeper," Flint answered. "Tonight, at the quidditch pitch after supper."

And he left. Poppy didn't know what to do. She thought about skipping herbology and telling her friends but went back to class anyway. On her way she could only think about one thing: why would Flint want to borrow books from professor Sprout?

**

"It's probably a joke and they won't turn up and you'll wait there for hours and then they'll throw snails at you," Rosalind had said when Poppy told them.

"Maybe he wants to take you on a moonlight broom ride and is too shy to ask!" Gracie had suggested. Poppy had simply rolled her eyes and continued pondering the different possibilities. She was now sitting in the great hall eating her supper. It had to be a joke and she hoped there wouldn't be any snails since she had decided to go anyway. It wouldn't be the first time she was humiliated by Slytherins.

When she had eaten, Poppy headed towards the quidditch pitch. She didn't see anyone on the way and thought that she would either be the first or last one there. If anybody was coming, that was. Poppy heard voices coming from the pitch and they got louder as she got nearer. It was dark and she didn't see anyone and the people on the pitch hadn't seen her either. Suddenly somebody grabbed her arm and put their hand on her mouth so she couldn't scream. She tried biting the hand but her attempts were useless. The person dragged Poppy further from the pitch. She knew nobody on the pitch could see them even if it had been light out.

"So, is this the part where you strip me naked and throw me on the pitch to be laughed at?" Poppy asked as soon as her attacker took his hand off her mouth. "I would like to know what you have planned so I can prepare for it."

"What?" The attacker said and Poppy recognized his voice. Flint, of course. "Are you out of your bloody mind, woman? Why would I do such a thing?"

"You're the big bad Slytherin monster," Poppy said.

"And you're Oliver Wood's sister but just because you're labelled as something, it doesn't mean you act like it," Flint responded and Poppy didn't know what he meant. Luckily, it was dark so Flint couldn't see her confused expression.

"Excuse me?" Poppy asked.

"Well, you want to be on his mortal enemy's team, and don't think I don't know what you and your friends have done," Flint said and Poppy thought he sounded rather smug.

"What?"

"Something your brother wouldn't approve of, nay?" Flint said and then changed the subject, much to Poppy's dismay. "So, I pulled you here to tell you that the team is already on the pitch. I thought I'd go there first and tell them we're getting a new keeper and then you would walk out."

"You couldn't tell me this earlier? You just had to make me think I was being kidnapped," Poppy said annoyed.

"Oh, uh, sorry about that. I didn't want you to spoil the surprise by just walking on to the pitch."

And so she stayed there waiting while Flint told his team the "good news." She could hear them protesting loudly and decided to walk back to the castle. On her way she started crying and couldn't understand why. She could hear a lot of footsteps behind her and hid behind a rock so her lovely new team wouldn't see her. They passed her by and she was about to get up when she heard someone walking way behind the others and stayed in her spot. Poppy couldn't help from sobbing and then she heard that someone approaching her.

"Go away!" She yelled.

"Umm... Are you okay?" Flint said.

"Not you again!" Poppy answered. "Go away!"

"Fine."

He walked away and Poppy followed shortly after. Unfortunately, Flint was waiting at the gate for her. She tried rushing past him but he grabbed her arm again. Poppy had noticed earlier how strong Flint's arms felt and now, for some reason, the thought popped into her head again.

"Seriously, what's wrong, Wood?" Flint asked. Poppy didn't look at him. She yanked her arm free and ran towards the Slytherin common room, leaving him there. He didn't follow and Poppy was relieved. She wouldn't cry in front of the big bad Slytherin monster or tell him her problems. She just wouldn't.


	5. Teen Witches Weekly

**Chapter 5: Teen Witches Weekly**

"Honeydukes!" Gracie screamed as she, Poppy and Rosalind approached Hogsmeade village. Rosalind rolled her eyes and Poppy just laughed at Gracie's childlike enthusiasm.

"We'll go there later, Gracie," Rosalind stated and Gracie looked disappointed."Everybody always goes there first and it's really packed. I can't stand it."

"But what if they run out of sweets?" Gracie questioned with a frown.

"Don't worry, I'm sure the shopkeepers have reserved half of the shop for you," Poppy joked. "Shall we go to the Three Broomsticks?"

Rosalind agreed and so did Gracie and the girls headed towards the popular pub. It had been a week since Flint had told his team about Poppy joining the team as keeper. All week Poppy had been called names and shouted at in the halls by Slytherins. The girls in her dormitory ignored her even more than usual and occasionally they hid her toothbrush. Oliver hadn't properly talked to her after he had heard the big news and Poppy had considered quitting the team before things would get even hadn't spoken to Poppy either. Poppy assumed he was pondering whether or not to kick Poppy off the team.

When the girls entered the Three Broomsticks, Poppy saw a familiar sight: Flint sitting in the corner by himself. Poppy recognized his drink as well, firewhiskey. He was of legal age to drink it, of course, but Poppy found herself worrying about what might happen if a teacher saw him. They often came to the pub, too. Poppy noticed Rosalind and Gracie had already gotten a table and that she was standing by the door, staring at Flint, looking like somebody had petrified her. She remembered how that had happened to some of the kids at Hogwarts last year and shuddered while walking to Rosalind and Gracie.

"So, you're still sure you don't fancy him?" Gracie questioned as Madam Rosmerta brought over three butterbeers.

"What?" Poppy asked.

"Uh, Flint," Rosalind said and started rummaging through her bag, looking for something.

"Wait, what? He practically kidnapped me and you think I like him?" Poppy said, appalled. Flint meant nothing to her. He was her captain and that was it. Soon he'd probably be even less.

"Gracie and I found this quiz," Rosalind said while browsing through a magazine she had pulled out from her bag. "And we took it for you."

"What? What is that?" Poppy asked and grabbed the magazine from Rosalind. "Teen Witches Weekly... I didn't know you guys liked this kind of stuff. It's all girly and weird."

"It's Grace's," Rosalind stated and Gracie pulled a face. "She subscribes to it and she brought a lot of them with her to school and she reads them every night before she goes to sleep."

"Well, it's good journalism," Gracie said.

"I see. 'How to make your lips look kissable' qualifies as good journalism these days, huh?" Poppy laughed. Then she saw the quiz Rosalind had mentioned. "How to tell if somebody likes you? What is this? You don't actually believe in these things?"

"I do," Gracie said and frowned.

"So, you used this to determine whether or not Flint likes me?" Poppy asked and added, "Which he doesn't."

"No, we just used it to find out if you like him," Rosalind said. "We reversed the questions and it was all very scientific."

"Yeah, I bet," Poppy said. Gracie grabbed the magazine from her.

"You got almost all of these things right. I mean, you look at him longingly all the time," Gracie started.

"No, I don't!" Poppy cut her off.

"Yeah, you do," Rosalind said. "You just did it ten minutes ago."

"I was thinking of the horrible things that happened last year," Poppy said.

"Well, anyway. You constantly try to talk to him," Gracie continued. "Like the time you two chatted outside the greenhouses about some nonsense."

"He came to talk to me!" Poppy argued.

"So it applies to both of you, interesting," Gracie simply said. "And you talk about him all the time. That's not in the quiz but I added it myself."

"I never say anything positive," Poppy noted and looked at Rosalind, who usually thought these kinds of things were rubbish. Rosalind simply smiled.

"Because you're trying to hide your crush! That's question number 22, I added that one, too," Gracie said and continued blabbering about the quiz. Poppy decided to ignore her.

"I'm going to go get another butterbeer," Poppy said and ignored Rosalind when she pointed out that Poppy had not even finished her first.

She went up to the counter and decided to stay there for awhile, since she wasn't really going to order anything. She sat down on one of the stools and it didn't take long until somebody sat next to her. Of course it had to be Flint, Poppy thought. He was going to kick her off the team now. Great.

"Rosmerta, another firewhiskey, please and perhaps something for this young lady here?" Flint said, turning towards Poppy.

"Uh, nothing, thanks," Poppy answered and then decided to try her luck. "I mean, umm, I'll have the same."

She was extremely surprised when Rosmerta brought over two firewhiskeys instead of laughing in her face. Flint looked smug.

"What? Surprised?" Poppy asked him, trying to sound like she did this all the time even though she didn't. Only that one time, that nobody was allowed to talk about, and Flint didn't know about that or of any of her other drinking habits so Poppy figured she should try to act relaxed.

"Not really, no," Flint said and took a swig from his glass. Poppy did the same. Unfortunately she drank a little too much, since she didn't really remember the burning effect firewhiskey had, nor did she remember what she had promised herself: never ever drink firewhiskey again. Poppy ended up spitting it out, all over the counter. Madam Rosmerta came to clean it up, took away her glass and chuckled. Flint looked weird. There was something new about him that Poppy had never seen before. A smile. The smile turned into chuckling, which turned into roaring laughter. Poppy didn't know wether to be offended or amused. She decided to go with the first option, since Flint was obviously only sitting next to her to break the bad news. She might as well make it easy for him.

"What are you laughing at, you idiot?" Poppy asked in an annoyed tone. Flint stopped laughing and looked puzzled.

"No, it's just... Nothing," he said.

"Fine. Just tell me the news already, so I can get back to my friends," Poppy said and glanced over at Rosalind and Gracie who had, like everybody else at the pub, noticed the firewhiskey incident.

"What news?" Flint asked and looked even more puzzled. This was also a look Poppy had rarely seen, since Flint usually looked very determined and smug, like nothing could confuse him. That look was much better than this one. Why couldn't he just do it? Why couldn't he be as cold as usual and just say, "Hey, you're off the team, you loser"? Was he pretending not to know what Poppy was talking about, only to build up her hopes and make her think she was safe, only to crush her soon after?

"You know. How you're going to kick me off the team," Poppy stated quietly. She tried to sound strong but failed. She had wanted to let everybody know that she was on top of things, and that she had already known about this and had accepted it and decided that she was too good for the team anyway. Her plan was not going well. Right at that moment she didn't want anybody to know about any of it. She hoped Flint wouldn't be cruel enough to announce the news in front of everybody.

"Uh, what are you talking about?" Flint asked. "I'm not kicking you off. You're our best player, after me, of course."

Poppy looked stunned. For a week she had thought her quidditch career would end before it even started. She had prepared for that, though she now realized she hadn't prepared herself nearly as well as she should have. But this was unexpected. She didn't know what to say so she stayed quiet and just stared blankly at Flint.

"Are you okay?" Flint asked."What? Yeah, sure," Poppy said and got up and turned to leave. "Gracie, Ros, we're going to Honeydukes!"

And she headed out the door. Gracie and Rosalind followed soon after, looking confused but didn't dare to ask anything yet. Before they exited, Grace caught a glimpse of Flint who was picking up something from the floor. Outside she noticed Poppy was missing one of her bracelets. She decided not to say anything, since she had often dropped things in front of boys to get them to return them to her. She smiled, thinking Poppy had obviously learned some tricks from her.

"Shall we?" Gracie asked and grabbed her friends' arms.


	6. The Rumor

**Chapter 6: The Rumor**

Poppy was exhausted after the trip to Hogsmeade and had told her friends she was going to take a nap before dinner. She entered the Slytherin common room and headed straight to her dormitory. Poppy heard girls chatting as she went up the stairs and groaned. The girls in her dormitory had also come back from Hogsmeade and today they had apparently decided to gossip in private instead of sitting in the common room flirting with every single guy.

Poppy hated the days when they chose gossiping over boys since it meant having to be around the other girls. She hated the girls and they hated her. Becky, Victoria, Meredith and Mary were all purebloods and apparently they were all related to one another by some distant cousin or something. They all behaved like the typical rich girls Poppy had seen in muggle movies but had never really thought those kinds of girls actually existed. She was also pureblood but didn't really think it mattered. Oliver had always taught her not to care about such things.

The door made a creaking sound as Poppy opened it and entered the dormitory. The other girls did not stop talking and seemed to not acknowledge Poppy's presence at all. Poppy climbed into her bed, hoping to get some sleep and soon she nodded off. Years of living with these girls had made Poppy excellent at tuning out voices and sounds.

Half an hour later she woke to find that the girls were still talking about something. They were even louder than before. Poppy decided to eavesdrop a little before getting out of bed.

"And seriously, can you believe her?" Victoria asked. "I mean, really?"  
"I know, she's so horrible," Mary agreed.  
"Yeah," Becky said.

"I can't believe she thinks she can get away with this kind of stuff," Victoria continued.

"Totally," Meredith stated.

Poppy was wondering who they were talking about. Usually it was about somebody allegedly copying Victoria's hairstyle or kissing a boy one of them liked or something else stupid.

"She is such a slut," Victoria continued again. "It's pretty clear how she got on that team since she has no talent."  
"Well, you didn't get on the team when you slept with Roger Davies," Becky reasoned.

"First of all, Becks, he's the captain of the Ravenclaw team. We're in Slytherin. And second of all, shut up!" Victoria yelled.

"Yeah, Becks, shut up," Meredith said. "And Poppy Wood is totally such a slut."  
"I know! Flint is like five years older than her!" Victoria said. "And he looks like a troll."

"Totally," Mary agreed.

Poppy lay in her bed shocked as the girls got up and left.

"And did you hear about the drinking today?" Meredith asked as she opened the door.

"Yeah, I bet she has to get drunk before she can touch that troll," Victoria laughed.

The door slammed shut. Poppy got up and sat on the edge of her bed. She wasn't going to cry over what these girls thought. They had never liked her and had spread many rumors about her and even though this one was by far the worst of all, Poppy wasn't going to let them get to her. She was on the team. She earned it. Nobody could take that away from her.

Poppy got up and headed towards the great hall since dinner was about to be served. Other Slytherins were still in the common room and glared at her as she walked past them. This was nothing new so Poppy didn't pay any attention to them. She had realised early on that talking to the others was pointless. Whenever she asked why they were looking at her, they'd smirk and turn away.

The great hall was already packed with students and they were making a lot of noise. Poppy walked between the Gryffindor and Slytherin tables, trying to find a seat that was far from Victoria and the others. She noticed everybody whispering, looking at her and making disgusted faces. It was obvious the rumor had already spread. Poppy sat down, stared at her plate and waited for the food to appear. Students were still entering the great hall and Poppy could hear everybody shouting at their friends.

"Harry, we're here!"  
"Cho, I saved you a seat!"

Suddenly the Slytherin table fell quiet. Students were turning their heads towards the door and then quietly began whispering again. Poppy's eyes were still fixated on the plate. And suddenly someone was standing next to her.

"Is this seat taken?" Flint asked. Poppy lifted her head and saw that he was smiling. She looked across the table and saw everyone staring. But Flint didn't seem to notice.

"I'll take that silence as a yes," Flint said and sat down next to her. "I hope they serve the food soon. I'm starving."

"Um, yeah," Poppy muttered.  
"Is something wrong? I can go sit somewhere else if you want," Flint said and raised his eyebrows.  
"Um, no, it's just..." Poppy started but didn't get to finish since somebody sweeped Flint to the floor. After the initial shock of Flint disappearing like that, Poppy noticed that he was now pinned down on the floor under Oliver, who was punching Flint's face to a bloody pulp.

"How dare you do that to my sister?" Oliver shouted.

"Ollie!" Poppy screamed. "Get off him!"

But it didn't help. Other students had rushed to see what was happening and some Gryffindors were cheering. Cedric Diggory emerged from the crowd to try to pull the two apart but was pushed back by Oliver. Suddenly Oliver was floating and everyone saw that the teachers had finally arrived. The whole fight couldn't have lasted more than two minutes. Flint was lying on the floor. It didn't seem like he had fought back much and Oliver was practically undamaged.

Dumbledore lowered his hand quickly and Oliver dropped to the floor. Dumbledore whispered something to professors McGonagall and Snape. McGonagall asked Oliver to come with her as Snape helped Flint off the floor.

"Ms. Wood," Snape said, turning to Poppy. "I think we also need you."

They exited the great hall and Dumbledore quickly followed. Poppy turned her head and saw that the food had arrived. Nobody was eating, though, as they were all busy talking about what had happened. Oliver, Poppy and Flint followed Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape to the nearest classroom where they were told to sit down. Flint's left eye was barely open and his lips were bloody. He hadn't said a word yet and neither had Oliver.

Dumbledore sat behind the teacher's desk. He looked disappointed. McGonagall's lips were tightly pursed together and Snape's face was red. Like he was trying really hard not to yell from the top of his lungs.

"So," Dumbledore started. "What happened? Mr. Wood?"

"Ask Flint," Oliver snapped.

"Well, Mr. Flint, can you tell me what happened?" Dumbledore asked and turned to face Flint.

"Honestly, I have no idea," Flint answered and proceeded to wipe some of the blood on his sleeve. "I was sitting at the table with Poppy and then he attacked me."

"Liar", Oliver muttered. "I know what you've done."

"What are you talking about?" Flint asked, puzzled and then spit out a broken tooth. Snape glared at Oliver.

"Ms. Wood, do you know what happened since these idiots clearly don't?" Snape asked Poppy. She looked down at her feet.

"There's this rumor," Poppy started. "That I got on the quidditch team because I... Um, how should I put this? Because I did sexual favours for Flint."

McGonagall gasped, Snape's eye started twitching and Flint looked as shocked as he possibly could with his swollen and bloody face.

"Which I didn't," Poppy added quickly. "And the rumor got around and I guess somebody told Oliver and then he decided to beat up Flint."

"Is this true, Mr. Wood?" McGonagall asked.

"Actually, the version I heard was different and I think it might be true," Oliver said. "I was told that Flint was going around saying Poppy had... Done sexual favours for him... And that she still does it and that's why he keeps her on the team. Obviously I don't think Poppy would ever do it but Flint is the kind of person to say she had."

"No!" Flint shouted and got up from his chair so fast that the chair fell down. "I would never!"

Oliver also got up and was walking towards Flint when Flint suddenly grabbed Oliver's collar and ran him to the wall.

"I don't care if you think I'm a troll! I don't care about any of the stuff you say about me but I can't believe you think I would ever do that to her!" Flint shouted.

Snape pulled Flint away and made them both sit down. Poppy explained that she thought the girls in her dormitory had started the rumor and that maybe they could provide the professors with more information. Oliver was given two weeks of detention and Flint was given one. McGonagall told Flint to go to the hospital wing and decided it would be best if Oliver went tomorrow if he needed to. Oliver headed towards the Gryffindor common room and the professors went their seperate ways. The hospital wing was in the same direction as the Slytherin common room so Poppy and Flint were walking down the same hall.

"I'm really sorry," Poppy said. "About Oliver. He's a bit overprotective."

"It's fine," Flint mumbled.

They arrived at the staircase that lead to the dungeons.

"I guess this is where we part ways," Flint said.  
"I can come with you, if you want," Poppy offered.

"It's fine, you don't have to. It's late," Flint said and reached into his pocket. He pulled out something very familiar looking and handed it to Poppy. "You dropped your bracelet at The Tree Broomsticks earlier."

"Oh. I hadn't even noticed. Thank you," Poppy said.

"No problem. Bye."

And he left. Poppy quietly muttered goodbye and then headed down the staircase. It had certainly been an eventful day.


	7. The Aftermath

Chapter 7: The Aftermath

The next day Poppy opened her eyes after a good night's sleep to discover a less than pleasant sight: Becky, Meredith, Mary and Victoria were already up and sitting on Becky's bed, which was right next to Poppy's. They were being unusually quiet and stern looking and Poppy knew something bad was going to happen. The four girls had their eyes fixed on Poppy and even though they had clearly noticed she had woken up, nobody said a word.

Poppy got up and went to put on her uniform when she heard Becky clearing her throat. Poppy ignored it and started looking for her shoes. Mary coughed and Poppy heard them all getting up.

"You could at least acknowledge the fact we're here, you know," Victoria said and Poppy turned around.

"Aren't you a bit hypocritical for saying that, considering for the last four years you've acted as though I'm invisible?" Poppy snapped and she saw Meredith rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, but you're you," Becky remarked and Mary laughed. Victoria shot them a look and they fell silent.

"We just want to know why you think we started that rumor," Victoria then said, completely calmly. "I mean, we've been nothing but nice to you all these years."

Poppy scoffed.

"We don't know what you've heard but we'd never do anything like that," Meredith said.

"Yeah, we think it's just awful what people are saying about you," Becky continued. Mary smiled and Victoria looked at Poppy, clearly trying to look sympathetic but her face at that moment only made Poppy want to punch her. But she didn't.

"I heard you," she said.

"Heard us what?" Victoria asked.

"Talking about me," Poppy said and smirked at Victoria. "Also, it's nice to know that you and Roger Davies have some history... I never thought you'd go for that smart guy type but then again I never thought Roger would have such low standards as to settle for you, so I guess I really don't know anything about relationships."

"You shut your mouth, whore," Victoria said. "Nobody's going to believe you if you try to tell them the truth about you and Flint."

"They might if they hear it from him," Poppy remarked and remembered what a gentleman Flint had been last night.

"You think he would stand up for you? These kinds of rumors, true or not, only make him look better," Meredith said.

"Oh, I guess you're right," Poppy said with a fake frown. Then she put on her shoes and left for breakfast. On her way out she heard Mary complaining about their upcoming detention. Poppy smiled.

When Poppy arrived to the great hall, she knew everyone was still talking about her and Flint. She was sure Oliver had told all the Gryffindors that the rumors weren't true but the rest of the school probably still thought they were and Poppy wasn't really counting on the Gryffindors believing Oliver so nothing had really changed from yesterday. Poppy sat down at the Slytherin table and a few seconds later Gracie and Rosalind rushed over to her.

"Are you okay?" Gracie screamed and put her arms around Poppy, squeezing tightly.  
"If I could breathe, I would be," Poppy remarked and smiled. Gracie let go.

"We heard about... You know," Rosalind said. "Is it true?"  
"What? No!" Poppy exclaimed. "I don't even know what you heard but no!"

"Yeah, that's what we thought," Gracie said. "I mean, you're you and you don't do that and I mean it's fine if you did but you don't and yeah, it's fine, you know. It's all fine."

"You should ignore Grace. She's a bit mad since nobody is talking about the fact that she kissed Roger Davies out by the lake yesterday. You sort of stole her thunder," Rosalind explained.

"You kissed Roger Davies?" Poppy asked Gracie and she nodded. "So you don't know about him and Victoria?"  
"He didn't think to mention it, no," Gracie said and frowned. "You can tell me more later, they're serving breakfast and we have to go. I see a slice of toast with my name on it."

Rosalind and Gracie went back to the Hufflepuff table. Poppy sighed. Having her friends in a different house was bad enough normally but in a situation like this it was unbearable. Flint was nowhere to be seen and Poppy decided to go find him. Skipping breakfast sounded like a better idea than sitting there with everyone staring at her. She grabbed some bananas off the table and stormed out.

After a half an hour of wandering the corridors, Poppy found Flint sitting by himself in the Slytherin common room. She cursed in her mind for not looking there first. Flint was reading a book that Poppy recognized as the seventh year herbology book. She had often browsed through Oliver's copy of it out of sheer interest. Poppy sat down on the couch opposite the one Flint was sitting on.

"That's a good book," Poppy said and Flint looked up, clearly surprised to see her there, as if he had not heard her come in.

"It's alright, I guess," Flint answered.

"Do you like herbology?" Poppy asked, trying to stir up conversation. She remembered how professor Sprout had asked Flint about borrowing her books.

"It's alright," Flint said.

They sat in silence for awhile with Flint reading his book and Poppy desperately trying to think of something to say.

"I brought you some bananas," she finally said and held up the bananas.

"I hate bananas," Flint said.

"Oh."

Silence again. Flint had been so nice to her earlier, Poppy couldn't understand what was going on.

"Are you mad at me or something?" Poppy asked.

"Why would I be?" Flint asked, not looking up from his book.

"You're kind of acting like you're mad at me," Poppy remarked. Flint looked up and looked at Poppy like he wanted to hug her but his face quickly changed back to his usual stern expression that made first year students cry. He stood up.

"I'm not mad at you but I'm not your friend either," Flint said. "We have practice tomorrow, don't be late."

He left the common room and Poppy was stunned. She had no idea what had changed from yesterday but it didn't really even matter since tomorrow she was going to die. One of her team mates would most likely kill or at least injure her at practice.


	8. Marcus the Knight

**Chapter 8: Marcus the Knight**

Poppy was laying in bed at the hospital wing. She was starting to think that joining the Quidditch team was a bad idea. That thought occurred to her right as her teams beater swung a bludger towards her head. She was able to swerve so it didn't hit her in the head but instead broke three bones in her ribcage. Madam Pomfrey told her that she had passed out and fallen from her broom.

Oliver had been to see her with Grace and Rosalind. He had seemed overjoyed when Poppy told him she had blocked most of the quaffles during her first practice with the Slytherin team. Oliver didn't really seem to care about the fact that she was in pain, insisting that Poppy tell him everything and describe the situation second by second. Madam Pomfrey finally told him to get out when he started running around the room, re-enacting some of his finest Quidditch moments.

Unfortunately Madam Pomfrey also kicked out Grace and Rosa, so Poppy could get some rest. Grace had brought her some chocolate frogs and an issue of Teen Witches Weekly and Rosalind had said she'd find out what assignments Poppy's class would be given during tomorrows lessons.

"Thank you, I was truly worried about that," Poppy had remarked and rolled her eyes.

Flint had not been to see her, which Poppy thought was very rude. He was her captain, after all.

"Don't you think it's a bit rude when somebody gets injured and the captain of the team just ignores that person and their injury?" Poppy asked Madam Pomfrey.

"What? Oh, you mean Mr. Flint? I wouldn't say he ignored you, he did carry you here and waited for an hour to see if you would wake up," Madam Pomfrey said. "Then he had to leave for detention, I think."

Madam Pomfrey started folding bedsheets. Poppy picked up the magazine Gracie had brought and flipped through it. It featured some of the newest players drafted by different Quidditch teams and Poppy was immediately interested. She was, however, disappointed when the article only discussed things like the players' favourite desserts and whether or not they have any pets. It didn't even feature any players from Poppy's favourite team, The Falmouth Falcons. Poppy felt herself getting sleepy so she closed her eyes and hoped for sweet dreams. The pain in her ribcage was almost gone and she hoped to get out of the hospital wing by tomorrow.

Poppy was wakened in the middle of the night by a loud ruckus. There were no other patients in the hospital wing so Poppy wondered what was going on. There was a prisoner loose from Azkaban, after all. That's enough to have everyone a bit on edge.

After the ruckus she heard swearing but couldn't see anyone as the room was pitch black.

"Wood? Are you here?" somebody whispered and she recognized the voice. It was Flint! What was he doing here, Poppy wondered and thought about not answering. After all, he had been rather unfriendly to her yesterday. But she decided to be nicer than that.

"That's what you call my brother and if you're looking for him, I suggest you try the Gryffindor dormitories," Poppy said. "My name is Poppy."  
"Fine, Poppy. Keep talking so I can find you," Flint sighed.

"I'm thinking of quitting the team," she said, after thinking for awhile.

"What? Because of one accident? Montague wants to apologize for that, by the way," Flint said as he lit up his wand. "I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner."

Then he saw Poppy right in front of him, sitting on her bed. She rolled her eyes.

"I guess you're feeling better?" Flint asked.

"I'm alright, I guess," Poppy retorted. "What are you doing here? You're not my friend, remember?"

"I'm your captain, and it's my responsibility to make sure you're alright," Flint said and sat down on the bed next to hers.

"Well I am, so you can go," Poppy said. "And you shouldn't be here, you could get another week of detention if someone catches you here."  
"Are you worried about me?" Flint smirked. Poppy ignored him. "Why do I have to call you Poppy while you still call me Flint? I have a first name, too."

"Everyone calls you Flint," Poppy remarked.

"No, my friends call me Marcus."  
"I've never heard anyone call you Marcus," Poppy said and that was the first time she realized Flint didn't really seem to have any friends. She looked at him and saw from his face that this was true. "Oh. I'm sorry."

"It's fine."

They were silent for awhile. Poppy fiddled with her thumbs and was a little embarrassed by the teddy bear pyjamas Madam Pomfrey had given her to sleep in. Finally she broke the silence.

"So I'm your friend now? What changed?" she asked.  
"I realized I was being stupid. I thought your brother would kill me if we became friends," he said.

"He probably will," Poppy pointed out. Flint smiled.

"Well, he'll just have to get over it," he said. When I saw you falling off your broom and smash into the ground, I wanted to kill Montague. I'm usually not a violent person."

Poppy laughed and Flint smirked again.

"I care about you. As a friend," he said.

"So, we're friends? Poppy asked.  
"Yes."

"Alright," Poppy said, paused and then added, "alright, Marcus."

He got up and turned around to leave but then he remembered something.

"Oh, yeah, I brought you this," he said and handed her a clothing item of some kind. "The pyjamas Madam Pomfrey has are not the most comfortable."

"Thanks," Poppy said.

Marcus left and Poppy changed her pyjama into the t-shirt Marcus had brought. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror by the moonlight. She smiled when she noticed the print "Falmouth Falcons" on the shirt.

The next day, as Poppy was telling her friends all of this they kept exchanging weird looks. Finally, just as she had finished telling them about the shirt and Gracie had smirked at Rosalind, Poppy had enough.

"What is with those looks?" Poppy snapped.

"Well, it's obvious, right?" Grace started.

"You like him and he likes you," Rosalind continued. "And that's fine. We never really thought that the big, muscular and broody guy would be your type but it's fine. We're happy if you're happy."  
"You're out of your mind, the both of you," Poppy said and grabbed one of Grace's pumpkin lollipops.

They were sitting in a corner of the library, trying to be as quiet as possible. Rosalind was working on an essay for History of Magic. The other girls could not understand her fascination with the subject. Gracie was supposed to be working on her assignment for Defense Against the Dark Arts since it was already a week late but professor Lupin had given her an extension. Teachers had always had a soft spot for Grace because of her bright blue eyes and all the sweets she carried with her. Right now Grace was looking at Rosalinds assignment on the same subject for inspiration.

"We're just friends," Poppy said and looked at her friends with a serious face but they were looking at something else.

"What is it?" Poppy asked.  
"Your friend is over there," Grace said. Poppy turned her head and saw Marcus waving her over.

"I should probably go," Poppy said, got up and walked over to Marcus who then pulled out Montague from behind a bookshelf.  
"Now, remember what we talked about?" Marcus asked him. Montague was looking at Poppy smugly so Marcus punched him in the stomach.  
"Flint!" Poppy screamed. Marcus raised an eyebrow.

"Please don't yell, Poppy, this is the library," he said and then turned back to Montague who was whincing with pain. "Now do you remember?"  
"Fine!" Montague yelled and everyone at the library was now looking at their little scene. "What are you all staring at?"

"May I ask what is happening here?" Poppy questioned.  
"He's apologizing, aren't you, Montague?" Marcus said.  
"I guess I'm sorry for accidentally hitting you with the bludger," Montague said smirking.

"Accidentally? You call that an accident, I saw you aim it right at me!" Poppy yelled.

"It was an accident, I apologized, can I go now?" Montague said and Marcus nodded.

"You told me you wanted to kill him and that's all I get? A lousy, forced apology?" Poppy asked, annoyed.  
"I can't kill him, he's our best beater. He knows, if he does anything like this again I won't leave it at three punches."  
"You only punched him once."  
"Right. Yeah."

He left and Poppy turned around to see her friends looking shocked at what had happened. Rosalind pointed out that the whole thing was straight out of a medieval book where the knight saves the princess from the dragon. Poppy scoffed.


	9. Poppy's Crush

**A/N**: I want to thank all of you that have reviewed my story or added it as a favorite etc :) I appreciate all the reviews and all of you that want to follow this story. Marcus' POV was requested and I'm working on an upcoming chapter on that!

**Chapter 9: Poppy's Crush**

The next few weeks just flew by as Marcus had the team training almost everyday. Oliver was on edge about the upcoming matches as well as Marcus and Poppys newly found friendship. He hated seeing them laughing together at the Slytherin table and he always seemed to be waiting by the castle entrance when they walked back from the pitch after practice. Poppy was getting annoyed with Oliver since he dragged her away from Marcus whenever he could. She had tried explaining to him that nothing was going on between them but Oliver didn't understand. To him Marcus Flint represented pure evil.

Grace and Rosalind didn't really understand it either but they were happy that Poppy didn't have to be alone in Slytherin anymore. They were always asking Poppy what the two exactly talked about and Poppy always answered "Quidditch and stuff." She didn't really know how to answer the question since she and Marcus talked about anything and everything. The girls in Poppy's dormitory had left her alone for awhile but now that she had been spending so much time with Marcus, they started teasing her about it. The one thing they clearly couldn't understand was what Poppy exactly saw in Marcus since according to them, he was ugly. Poppy tried explaining to them many times that she was not dating Marcus but they couldn't understand that either so she usually just gave up.

Their comments had actually gotten Poppy to think about the way Marcus looked like. She had noticed his strong arms when he had grabbed her in the dark at the quidditch pitch and now that they had been having practice, she had seen the rest of his upper body as well. He was definitely strong and muscular but not to the point of obnoxious. Poppy didn't like the kind of men where you could clearly see and pinpoint all the different muscles. She had to admit to herself that Marcus' body was attractive. But it wasn't his body that made everyone call him a troll.

Poppy had never thought of Marcus as ugly. During her first years she thought he looked scary with his signature sneer that rivaled the one of Draco Malfoy's and slightly trollish with crooked teeth but never ugly. His teeth were still rather bad but he wasn't scary anymore. Poppy thought it was only his reputation and the sneer that made a lot of students scared of him. Now that she knew him, she found herself often thinking that he looked fine. Sometimes even attractive, especially when he talked about quidditch and got so intense that he almost seemed angry. Poppy didn't think it was normal of her to be attracted to her angry friend.

She was laying on her bed, once again thinking about Marcus' appearance. She didn't know why this was a frequent topic in her mind and she knew what her friends would say if she told them. When Marcus smiled, Poppy always wanted to smile, too. When he took off his shirt, her concentration was lost. She was sure he had seen her stare but hadn't said anything. Poppy was thankful for that. While she didn't exactly want him finding out about her secret thoughts, she also knew he wouldn't tease her about them.

Poppy had to admit that she was developing a crush on Marcus. This had never really happened to her before, as most boys ignored her and she ignored them. She didn't know anything about relationships as her only examples came from people such as her mother and her friend Grace, whom she loved and cared for but whose longest relationship had lasted approximately two weeks. Grace always said she keeps picking the wrong boys.

Poppy had seen her brother take a different girl to Hogsmeade every time they were allowed to go but none of them seemed to stick around.

"They all want me to spend so much time with them, I have other things to do," Oliver always said. "They don't understand my priorities."

Poppy sighed. She didn't know anything about relationships and clearly nobody else did either. She did, however, realize that a five-year age difference would be too much when the other person is 14. And Marcus had so many bad qualities that Poppy couldn't ever even consider dating him, right? The drinking, the fighting and always acting like the most stereotypical Slytherin you could find were just a few of the things Marcus was known for. He wasn't like that around her, though and that annoyed Poppy since she didn't know which side of him was real.

Suddenly, she heard a scream coming from the common room and decided to go see what was happening. As Poppy entered the room, she immediately saw a huge group of people huddled around Draco Malfoy, their teams seeker. Pansy Parkinson was standing right next to him, looking horrified and Poppy assumed she was the one that had screamed. Marcus was standing in a corner, looking worried and lost in thought. She went over to ask what was going on.

"Malfoy's hurt his arm," Marcus replied. "Some hippogryff accident or something, I don't know. He's mostly faking it but if he keeps up this act, we won't be able to play against Gryffindor next week and your brother will probably think I'm scared of him and his little team and his little Potter. I could just hit him right now."  
"What, Oliver? Since when do you care what he thinks?" Poppy asked and realized that this was a rather stupid question since Marcus and Olivers rivalry had been going on ever since they were both chosen as captains for their house teams. From that point forward they were obsessed with eachother.  
"No, I could punch Malfoy, but Wood sounds like a good option, too," Marcus replied with a grin.

"Why do you act like that?" Poppy snapped and didn't really know why. Marcus looked at her surprised.

"Like what?" he asked, slightly annoyed. Poppy knew he didn't like it when people questioned him or his actions.

"Like a jerk," she said.

"It was a joke," he simply replied and was clearly confused by Poppy's behaviour.

"Yeah, this time it might have been," Poppy remarked and turned on her heels to go back to her dormitory, leaving poor Marcus completely frazzled. Some students were looking at them but most of the Slytherins were still focused on Malfoy.

Poppy fell on her bed and sighed. Apparently her mind had decided getting mad at Marcus was the best way to get over him. So far, she didn't like having a crush as it seemed very difficult and like a lot of work.


	10. Marcus and Oliver

**Chapter 10: Marcus and Oliver**

Marcus Flint was not a guy that thought things through. His quidditch plays were usually based on force and speed rather than tactics and well thought out moves. When he wanted to punch someone, he did it without thinking about the consequences and when ever he tried cheating on a test, it never occurred to him that he might be caught. So, when he decided to tell Oliver Wood how he felt about Oliver's sister, he had not thought it through. After he did it, Marcus thought to himself that it would be a good time to start thinking ahead.

His original plan, actually, was to tell Oliver that Malfoy's arm was still hurt and Slytherin would not be able to play Gryffindor in two days. Of course, Malfoy's arm was really fine and the slimy little git was completely faking the whole thing but Marcus couldn't do anything about it. He tried telling Malfoy to stop acting so they could play but Malfoy had, as always, started yapping about how powerful his father was and what he could do to Marcus and how his father didn't buy the team brand new broomsticks so Draco could be treated like this.

Marcus had gone down to the quidditch pitch after the Gryffindor teams practice and decided to tell Oliver there. The rest of the team had already left but Oliver had stayed to work on some new plays in the locker room.

"Wood," Marcus had said to get Oliver's attention. Oliver lifted his head, saw who it was and rolled his eyes.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"Did you hear about Malfoy's arm?" Marcus said. Oliver nodded so he continued, "Yeah, well, apparently it's still hurting so in the first game you'll be playing Hufflepuff instead."  
"What? Are you out of your mind? You know as well as I do that idiot's arm is just fine!" Oliver yelled. Marcus didn't really want to comment on this, so he decided to change the subject and, unfortunately for him, the first thing that popped into his head was Poppy.

"So, is Poppy mad at me for something?" he asked. Oliver raised an eyebrow. "She seems mad."  
"How would I know, she never tells me anything anymore," Oliver stated. "But to be fair, if she is you probably deserve it."

Marcus thought so, too, but unfortunately he didn't know what he had done to make Poppy mad. For the last few days Poppy had been yelling at him whenever they saw eachother but it never seemed to be about anything in particular. This kind of behaviour was new to Marcus, since before if someone was mad at him, they usually made it clear why they were mad. It was slowly starting to annoy him and the thought had crossed his mind that maybe Poppy had decided she didn't want to be his friend after all. Maybe she was expecting him to do what he usually did and get mad and yell at her so she'd have a good reason not to talk to him. Marcus really didn't know what was happening but this was the best he'd come up with.

He didn't put Poppy on the team because he thought she was pretty, though he did. His decision was mostly based on her skills and a little on the fact that she didn't let him say no. She was extremely stubborn and he was, too. He never gave in on anything but for her he was willing to make exceptions. Marcus never thought he and Poppy would become friends and he didn't think spending a lot of time with her at practice would affect his feelings in anyway but it did. He liked Poppy from the minute she told him his team was horrible and spending time with her only made things worse.

"Did you want something else?" Oliver asked, snapping Marcus out of his thoughts.

"I like your sister," Marcus blurted out.

It took Oliver two seconds to realize what Marcus had said. It took him another two seconds to knock Marcus down to the floor. Oliver punched Marcus who tried throwing Oliver off him but didn't succeed. Oliver went in for another punch, Marcus dodged and Oliver hit the floor instead. This was Marcus' chance to grab Oliver's arm and hit Oliver's face with his other arm. Oliver fell of and Marcus stood up.

"Look, I'm not going to do anything about it," he said, wiping the blood from his nose with his sleeve. Oliver got up and looked like he was ready to go again.  
"Then why did you tell me?" Oliver yelled. "Do you want me to hate you even more? First you put her on your team, just to spite me and then you pretend to be her friend and now you're telling me... What are you telling me, exactly? That you want to be her boyfriend? Hah! I know what you want but she thinks you two are just friends."

"I wasn't going to do anything!" Marcus tried to explain.

"And you won't or I'll kill you. And you better make damn sure that friendship of yours ends," Oliver demanded.

"You know, I don't respond well to threats and I especially hate the way you try to run Poppy's life for her," Marcus said. He was completely calm, even though in his head he wanted to smash Oliver's head in with a bat.

Oliver didn't know what to say and then their conversation was interrupted by the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, that had booked the pitch for the night.

"Why are you all standing in the doorway?" Cedric Diggory asked, as he walked in behind his team and pushed some of them out of the way in order to enter the room. His team was looking at Marcus with blood dripping from his nose and then at Oliver, who was holding his other hand as it was clearly hurt and bruised.

"What is going on here?" Cedric asked, when he saw his fellow captains.

"Nothing," Oliver replied and looked at Marcus.

"Yeah, nothing," Marcus said and clenched his fist. Then he headed for the door and the Hufflepuffs immediately moved from the door. When he was almost out of the room already, he turned to Cedric and said one more thing, "Oh, right, Diggory, you're playing Gryffindor in two days. Good luck with that."

Marcus didn't want to go to the hospital wing as he didn't think his nose was broken and he could handle a little pain. Instead he headed towards the Slytherin common room and his dormitory. As he was rushing through the common room, he saw Poppy writing something, possibly an essay. She looked up at him, shocked, but he didn't stop. He went up to his dormitory, sat on his bed and then took out an old shirt to stop the bleeding with. Suddenly, Poppy barged in through the door.

"I don't think you're supposed to be here," Marcus said but Poppy ignored him.

"What happened to you?" she yelled.

"Nothing," he said and shrugged. "Really."

"You really think I believe that?" Poppy asked and sat next to him on the bed. She took the shirt from Marcus and wiped some of the blood off his shirt and hands.

"No," Marcus muttered. "I went to tell your brother about the new situation with the matches."

"And he hit you over that?" Poppy yelled and bounced up from the bed. Marcus took her hand and pulled her back down.

"No," he said. "I asked him if you were mad at me and... Well, he told me to stay away from you."

"He's been telling me that for ages but I didn't think he'd resort to violence," Poppy said.

"Uh, no, I punched him first," Marcus lied. He thought it might be best to step back and avoid anymore trouble and making Poppy hate him would probably be the easiest way to end their friendship. For effect, he added, "The little git deserved it."

"Oh," Poppy said quietly. Marcus was still holding her hand but now she quickly pulled hers away. She got up, handed Marcus the bloody shirt and said, "Here's your shirt."

"Are you going somewhere?" Marcus asked and Poppy nodded.

"Like you said, I'm not supposed to be here."


	11. Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff

**Chapter 11: Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff**

It was a nice Saturday afternoon and the students of Hogwarts were pouring out of the castle and making their way towards the quidditch pitch. Gryffindor was playing Hufflepuff in the first match of the year and Poppy knew that Oliver was nervous. The Slytherin house had won the Cup for the last seven years and this year would be Oliver's last chance to go down in Hogwarts quidditch history as a captain that actually led his team to victory.

Poppy was walking to the pitch with Grace and Rosalind but she was not planning on sitting with them. During her first year she had made the mistake of sitting in the Hufflepuff section and being there with her friends had made it almost impossible for her to follow the matches. Grace and Rosa didn't know much about quidditch and Gracie had an irritating tendency of cheering at times when nothing was really happening. Rosalind was slightly less annoying company but only because she mostly sat still and looked generally unimpressed by whatever was happening.

Grace and Rosa had been asking what happened to Oliver and Marcus' faces, so Poppy had told them what Marcus had told her.

"So, are you mad at him?" Rosalind asked and Poppy shrugged.

"Which one?" she replied and then added, "Though I guess it doesn't matter. I'm mad at Oliver for trying to run my life for me and I'm mad at Marcus, uh, Flint for being the violent moron that he is and I'm mad at myself for ever falling for him."  
"Wait, what?" Grace shouted and a few nearby Ravenclaws turned to look at them. Gracie stuck her tongue out and the Ravenclaws hurried away.

"I guess I should have told you, right?" Poppy smirked. "But to my defense, I just figured this out myself and I am thinking that I need to make it stop. And it's his birthday today."  
"How is that relevant?" Rosa asked.

"Well, it's not. But he told me a few weeks ago that he cared more about winning this match than about his birthday and I told him that was kind of sad. This was when we thought we'd be playing today," Poppy explained.

"I still can't believe you fancy Flint!" Gracie said and suddenly her mouth fell open. "Wait a minute, I thought he was just a year older than Oliver."

"Isn't he?" Rosalie interrupted. Poppy was just looking at Gracie, she could practically hear the wheels turning in her head.

"You're supposed to be the smart one," Gracie quipped and continued, "If his birthday is today, then he was almost twelve when he started at Hogwarts which means that now he's turning nineteen, right?"

"Yes, that's right. What's your point?" Poppy asked.

"I'm not sure," Gracie said. "I guess a five-year age difference just seems like a lot more than four."

"Wait, he's five years older than you?" Rosalind asked.

"You're just now figuring that out?" Gracie said, laughing, and Poppy chuckled.

They finally reached the pitch and the girls parted ways. Rosalind and Grace made their way towards the other Hufflepuffs while Poppy climbed the nearest steps up to the Slytherin section, thinking at the same time who she would sit next to. Usually she just got there early enough that all the seats were empty and she could sit in the front and follow the matches and whoever had to sit next to her would just have to deal with it. It was starting to rain a little bit.

Luckily, the front seats were still empty as a lot of the Slytherins hadn't bothered showing up to the match early, as it was only Gryffindor and Hufflepuff playing. Poppy sat in the front, as always. She could see Gracie on the other side of the pitch, standing up and wailing both her arms in the air even though the match had not started yet. Some first years sat next to Poppy and slowly the whole Slytherin section begun filling up. Poppy saw Flint sitting in the back next to Malfoy and his friends.

The game was exciting and Gryffindor actually stood a chance of winning until dementors showed up and Harry Potter fell off his broom. The little rain drops had turned into full on thunder and lightning, the worst imaginable weather for quidditch. Some of the students had evacuated themselves because the cold wind mixed with the rain made it impossible to see anything. Diggory caught the snitch and Hufflepuff won. Poppy caught a glimpse of Oliver's disappointed face as the Gryffindor team left the pitch. The Hufflepuffs had invaded the pitch and were congratulating their team. Poppy climbed down and decided to wait for her friends near the exit.

"We won!" Grace squeeled when her and Rosalind finally broke free from the giant Hufflepuff group hug that was going on. "Even if it was mostly because Potter fell, we still won!"  
"Great," Poppy said and didn't bother mentioning that both teams were quite equal until Potter fell and Hufflepuff could have won even if he hadn't.

"Cedric said he wants a rematch. He thinks it wasn't a fair victory and he went off to find Oliver," Rosalind said to Poppy as Gracie skipped happily towards the castle in the mud. "I agree with him. I know everybody's happy, just look at Grace, but it doesn't feel right."

The two girls then ran towards the castle as an attempt to stay dry, which at this point was impossible. They grabbed Gracie by the arms as they passed her and dragged her in. Then they headed towards their own dormitories to freshen up before supper. On her way to the dungeons, Poppy ran into Oliver.

"Sorry about the match," she said, knowing quite well that her brother was a sore loser. "Did Diggory find you, he wanted to-"  
"Yes, he found me," Oliver cut her off. "And I told him Hufflepuff won fair and square."  
"So, no rematch?" Poppy questioned and frowned.

"No," Oliver said and then said that he had to go visit Potter in the hospital wing. Poppy knew this was a lie and Oliver would go to his dormitory and start obsessing about what happens if Gryffindor loses another match and how this one loss affects their chances of winning the cup, but didn't say anything.

"How's you're face?" Poppy asked.

"It's fine, a few bruises. Nothing I can't handle," Oliver replied. "Did Flint tell you what happened? The whole story?"  
"Of course, why wouldn't he?"  
"Well you seem completely fine and not at all mad at me, so I assumed he didn't," Oliver said.

"Why would I be mad at you?" Poppy asked and was slowly getting confused. Was Flint not telling her the truth?

"Well, I did hit him after he told me that-," Oliver started but quickly stopped. "I mean, he's your friend or something and I know you don't like it when I punch your friends."  
"You hit him first?" Poppy yelled. "What exactly did he say that made you punch him?"

"Uh, well, uh. I should go. I'm a bit confused about the events of that night, you should just listen to Flint. I'm sure his version of events is the exact right one," Oliver rambled and then quickly turned and started sprinting away.

Poppy was mad. She couldn't understand why Flint would lie to her and planned on finding out right then and there. She raced to the dungeons, to the Slytherin common room and when Flint wasn't there, she ran up the steps to the seventh year boys dormitory. And there he was, laying on his bed but there were also others.

"Get out!" Poppy yelled. "All of you, except Flint. Out now!"

"And why should we obey you?" said a boy whose name Poppy had always known but couldn't care enough to remember it.

"Just go," Flint mumbled before Poppy had a chance to say anything. The two other boys got up and left.

"You lied to me!" Poppy shouted. "Why would you lie to me?"

Flint looked confused, so Poppy elaborated.

"Oliver hit first, not you! Why would you lie about that, it makes no sense! And also he said he punched you after you told him something. What was it?" Poppy kept rambling and raising her voice. "Why would you lie? I thought we were friends and friends aren't supposed to lie to eachother and what? Do you not want to be my friend anymore? I sure as hell don't want to be yours if you'll keep saying things to my brother that make him want to punch you and then you'll lie about it!"

"Don't you ever breathe?" Flint asked and gestured towards the bed next to his. Poppy sat down on it. "I lied because your brother told me it would be best to stay away from you. He hit me because I told him something he didn't want to hear but I also told him I wasn't going to tell you and I won't. I can see that you're going to make it extremely difficult for me to end this friendship so I probably shouldn't even try."

"You're stuck with me," Poppy said and laughed a little.

"Seems like it," Marcus said and smiled.

"Happy birthday," Poppy said as she remembered and moved to sit next to Marcus. "I was going to get you a gift but then I thought I should just yell at you instead."

"It's fine," Marcus said and was still smiling. Then his expression changed from happy to completely shocked as Poppy wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. Marcus didn't know what to do but Poppy wasn't letting go so he had no choice but to wrap his arms around her waist. He didn't even mind that Poppy was soaking wet and her hair was dripping all over his shoulders.

In reality the hug only lasted for maybe twenty seconds but to Marcus it felt like an hour.


	12. Revelations

**A/N: **Sorry for lack of updates, I just started working again and it's been a bit hectic. I'll try to update on the weekends. It's been nice seeing your story alert subscriptions and favorites in my inbox, so thanks for those :)

**Chapter 12: Revelations**

Poppy asked Marcus the same question everyday for the next week: "What did you say to Oliver?"

Marcus would always either change the subject or mumble something and then leave the room. This was beginning to irritate Poppy and she wasn't afraid to show Marcus just how frustrated it made her.

"I demand you tell me now!" she would say and stomp her foot, which made Marcus laugh and when he laughed at her, she became even more annoyed. She did realize that she, too, was being a bit annoying but she just couldn't understand. Marcus had told Oliver something but couldn't tell her even though she was one of the few friends Marcus had and Oliver was basically his worst enemy. She often pondered if maybe Marcus had told Oliver that he had no intention of staying away from Poppy because they were friends, but that idea just seemed odd. If that was all then surely Marcus would've told her?

Then, occasionally, she fiddled on the idea that maybe Marcus had similar feelings for her as she did for him. Gracie and Rosalind had been joking about that since the beginning of term but Poppy never thought they were too serious. She thought she should stop bothering Marcus with this because it might be nearly impossible for them to stay friends if Marcus were to reveal that he did, indeed, have a crush on Poppy. However, she just really needed to know if it was true.

It wasn't until she was once again laying on her bed, wearing Marcus' Falmouth Falcons shirt that she got an idea. Poppy put on some pyjama bottoms and went down to the common room where a lot of first years were studying and some students were playing exploding snap. It was a saturday night so a lot of students didn't go to bed as early. Marcus was sitting by the fireplace and Poppy sat right next to him.

"Hey," she said and pretended to be looking at the fire when in reality she was eyeing Marcus' reactions.

"Hi," Marcus replied and glanced over to Poppy. He looked slightly surprised when he saw his shirt.

"I just came down to ask if you wanted your shirt back," Poppy said. "I mean I've had it for forever."

"No, you can keep it," Marcus replied and tried to scoot further away on the sofa but Poppy scooted right next to him.  
"Thanks. I've been sleeping in this ever since you gave it to me," she said. She could tell Marcus was having a hard time deciding what to say.

"Oh, so you like it, then?" Marcus finally asked.

"Well, it's your shirt so obviously," Poppy said and rolled her eyes. "And they're my favourite team."

Poppy could see the confusion in his whole face and he clearly did not what to think of what she was saying. Everything she was saying was true, of course, but before she had not even thought about saying it to him. Now she was testing him to see what he'd say about it all. The Marcus she knew would most likely just tell a girl to bugger off if he wasn't interested and he usually said everything he was thinking, so Poppy thought if he was interested in her, she'd find out soon enough.

All the other students had left and only a few first years, who were working on their potions assignments, were left so Poppy thought it would be safe for her next move. She laid down on the couch with her legs over Marcus' lap. Her feet were touching the armrest on Marcus' side and her bum was touching his thigh. Marcus suddenly looked like he had no idea where to put his hands.

"Are you tired?" he asked.

"No, I just want to lay here for awhile, if that's okay."

Marcus didn't say no, so she lay there for approximately ten minutes until Marcus told her it was way past both their bedtimes and that they should both go sleep. He also yelled at the first years for being up so late and made Poppy chuckle in the process. She wasn't surprised Marcus went to bed already, he had been extremely tense while sitting next to Poppy. She thought that kind of tension is probably tiring but couldn't figure out why he couldn't relax.

The next morning, at breakfast, Poppy decided to test Marcus some more. They sat next to eachother as usual and Marcus was just munching on a breakfast roll when Poppy interrupted him with a question.

"Do you know anyone who would want to date me?" she asked.

"What?" Marcus gasped and nearly choked on his roll.

"You know, a boy who would want to take me to Hogsmeade and buy me things from Honeydukes," Poppy said, casually.

"I can do that for you," Marcus replied and then quickly added, "I mean, you don't need a boyfriend for that."

"What if I want one?" Poppy asked.

"Well, uh... I guess I could ask around if anyone's interested in you," Marcus said. "But you'll have to ask them out yourself."  
"Yeah, sure, just find me someone. Could you do it before quidditch practice today?" Poppy asked.

"Uh, I guess..."

"Great!"

And she left, feeling rather proud of herself. She doubted even Gracie could come up with clever schemes such as this one and decided to locate her friends and tell them all about it. It wasn't too long until she found them waiting for their potions class to start.

"Are you stupid?" Gracie asked as Poppy finished explaining. "Why don't you just ask him?"

"Well, then it would be difficult for us to be friends. This way, I'll just know and he doesn't have to tell me and he'll never know that I know," Poppy rambled. Rosalind looked at her funny but then went back to her potions book.

"Sure, that'll work out. What happens when you figure out he's madly in love with you or something?" Gracie questioned and Poppy was beginning to think her friends weren't as excited about her plan as she had hoped.

"Well, nothing, I guess," Poppy said and shrugged.

"You won't want to jump his bones everytime you see him? You already want to do that know, imagine what will happen when you know he wants the same thing," Gracie explained.

Professor Snape arrived and the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws hurried to the classroom. Poppy was still telling Gracie that nothing would ever happen and that she wasn't completely stupid, when Snape interrupted.

"Ms. Wood, don't you have any classes of your own?" he asked.

"I might, Professor," Poppy replied and hurried away.

Before supper, the Slytherins had quidditch practice. It was almost the end of November and it had been raining since the last quidditch match. The team was groaning about having to practice in such horrible weather but Marcus didn't seem to care. They were out on the pitch for at least two hours but to Poppy it felt like ten. The rain was coming down so hard it was difficult to see ahead and the wind was almost knocking players off brooms.

Marcus signalled and everyone landed and got off their brooms.

"Everybody else can go but I think Wood could use a little more practice!" he shouted so the team heard him through the rain. Poppy was immediately furious.

"I need practice? Me!" she shouted and stomped towards Marcus. "Why not Malfoy? He's the worst seeker I've ever seen!"

Poppy could see Malfoy sneering as the rest of the team headed towards the locker rooms.

"You were a bit off," Marcus said calmly.

"Anyone would be in this weather, I can't see anything. I can barely see you and you're standing right in front of me!" she yelled.

"Just get on your broom," he said and suddenly he was taking off his shirt.

"What are you doing? Are you mad, you'll freeze!" Poppy yelled but Marcus was already up in the air. Poppy climbed on her broom and flew towards the goal posts.

Marcus came at her with the quaffle and threw it. One quick move and she caught it and wasn't about to let go anytime soon.

"I'm not going to practice anymore and you need to put your shirt on!" Poppy screamed and felt a bit stupid for getting on her broom in the first place.

"Is it bothering you that I'm shirtless. See, I was thinking you could warm me up if I got cold," Marcus replied and grinned.

"What?" Poppy gasped.  
"I just wanted to see how you'd react. Kind of like you did to me, right?" Marcus said and flew towards the ground. Poppy followed.

It was still raining but the wind had toned down. Marcus was already walking off the pitch when Poppy landed. She ran after him.

"Wait!" Poppy yelled and Marcus stopped and turned around. It might have been an amusing sight to anyone besides Poppy and Marcus: Oliver Wood's little sister and a shirtless Marcus Flint standing on the quidditch pitch, both completely drenched with her yelling at him.

"Let me guess, you have no idea what I'm talking about?" Marcus said.

"Uh, well, no, I mean..." Poppy said, trying to form a sentence that would make sense and explain the situation without seeming completely crazy.

"I guess you were relying on me never figuring it out? I get it, you think I like you and you wanted to tease me a little bit. It's fine, I don't care," Marcus said and was already turning to walk away when Poppy grabbed his arm.

"No, that's not it," she said. "I just wanted to see if you like me, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings or anything."  
"Yeah, because saying you want me to find you a boyfriend doesn't hurt my feelings," Marcus retorted. "Let's go inside before you get sick."

They moved to the locker room where Marcus found some towels.

"You should probably get out of those clothes or this towel won't be much help," Marcus said and Poppy raised an eyebrow. "I won't watch or anything. I'll go to the showers to change."

He disappeared behind the corner, where the showers were. Poppy started taking off the clothes she had worn for practice and was just now realizing how cold and wet she actually was.

"So, uh, I guess I should of just asked in the first place but better late than never..." Poppy started and waited for Marcus to reply to make sure he heard her.

"What?" he replied.

"Do you like me?" she asked and was wrapping herself in the warm and dry towel.

"Are you decent in there?" Marcus shouted and Poppy replied, "Yes."

Marcus walked back to the locker room and he was only wearing a towel on his waist. This wasn't an unusual sight to Poppy as Marcus walked around with just a towel all the time after practice. She sometimes thought he would probably walk around naked if she wasn't on the team and it would be all boys. She was sitting on the bench and Marcus sat next to her.

"I kind of promised your brother I wouldn't tell you the answer to your question, but I suppose you know it already," Marcus said.

"I have my suspicions," Poppy said and smiled a little. She had thought this kind of a situation would be more awkward especially as they were only wearing towels but for some reason, it felt completely normal.

"I like you, a lot," Marcus said. "And I guess it changes things now that you officially know."

"Well, it shouldn't. I mean, I suppose you should officially know that I like you, too," Poppy said.

"You do?" Marcus asked and looked genuinely surprised. "Well, what do we do now?"

Poppy shrugged.

"I don't know," she said and then started laughing a little. "Did you ever find me that boyfriend?"  
"Yeah, I think that Creepy kid from Gryffindor would love to go out with you," Marcus replied and smiled widely.

"Creevey? He's a second year or something!" Poppy exclaimed while chuckling.

"Well, how was I supposed to know you fancy older guys?"


	13. Getting Cosy

**Chapter 13: Getting Cosy**

Poppy and Marcus did not know what they were going to do. He liked her and vice versa but they both thought it wasn't smart to stay friends and that it definitely wouldn't be smart to start dating. It was almost December and the awful rain had subsided and allowed for snow to start falling. Poppy and Marcus were sitting outside the greenhouses because there were no more classes and it was a good place to talk privately. It had been a few days since what happened in the locker room and they had mostly kept to themselves and thought about what had actually happened. Poppy hadn't even told Rosalind or Gracie about any of it yet.

"So, you think it might be difficult for us to be friends?" Poppy asked and was shivering because of the weather. It had went from to cold and windy to freezing and snowy with a slight breeze every now and then. Marcus put his arm around her.

"Well, it's been a bit hard for me to be your friend all this time and now that I know how you feel... It might be impossible," Marcus said.

"And you think there's no way we could start dating?" Poppy asked and scooted closer towards Marcus. She knew it was stupid and them being huddled up together probably wasn't helping either of them but she couldn't help it. She also knew what he would say and that he would be absolutely right but she didn't want to hear it. "Forget about the age thing and the Oliver thing. Is there any other reason we shouldn't even try?"

"Those are really the two biggest obstacles, so, no. There's no other reason," Marcus said. "But we can't just forget those things."

"Don't say that," Poppy frowned. "If we just decide to do it then everyone will just have to adapt. Including Oliver."

"It's not that easy, though I hope it was," Marcus remarked, stood up and gestured to Poppy that it was time to go back inside. "But we can try to be friends and see how that goes. I mean, I was your friend before because it was better than not being with you at all and I guess it still is."

"I hate it when you're right," Poppy said as they walked back to the castle.

For the next few days, Poppy and Marcus did everything they could to be friends and tried to not think about anything beyond that. They laughed together, had breakfast together and stayed up at night, talking about whatever came to mind in the common room, carefully avoiding the subject of "Poppy and Marcus". Poppy thought if they added kissing to the list of things they did together, it would be considered dating.

"You know, most students already think were a couple," Poppy said to Marcus one night, when they were going over different scenarios for quidditch in the common room. The Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw game would be played tomorrow and Marcus had been thinking about how it would affect Slytherin if Hufflepuff would win again, though he didn't think it was very likely.

"I know," he said.

"They don't seem to mind," she continued, not acknowledging his apparent lack of interest.

"They think were dating and they spread rumors but nobody knows for sure, which is why there's been a real lack of interest in us lately. It's just rumors, and vicious ones at that," Marcus replied, not lifting his eyes from his notes. "If we started dating and told everyone about it, we'd definitely get some disapproving looks."  
"Well, you don't know that," Poppy said, disappointed.

"I know what your brother would say," Marcus replied and looked at Poppy. "Or, to be exact, I know what he would do to me."

"Since when do you care what Oliver thinks?" Poppy snapped.  
"I don't but you do. I don't want this thing to come between you and your brother. He has a hard enough time accepting us as friends and even though I think he's a little git, I get it," Marcus said. "And I know you act as if it's fine that you and Wood are not the same as before because of me when really it's not."

"I'm going to bed," Poppy said and got up.

"Night," Marcus said and smiled.

How could Marcus be defending Oliver? After all the years of hate, after all the fights and especially the fights about Poppy, one would think Marcus would be the last person to ever say they "get" Oliver. She knew what he meant but it would have been nice if he could have just been Marcus and not cared about anything. If he could have swooped her in his arms and carried her to bed and they could have... Well, kissed. Kissing was about as far as Poppy had gotten in her fantasies. But no, now he had to be this caring guy who thought about things and ruined everything with all of his caring and thinking. Sometimes Marcus could be so frustrating to Poppy.

After breakfast the next morning, Hufflepuff played against Ravenclaw and it was apparent that their latest victory had an effect on the Hufflepuffs' confidence. They were so confident, in fact, that they clearly thought winning wouldn't require much of an effort. Ravenclaw completely flattened Hufflepuff and won the game. Marcus said to Poppy that they had nothing to worry about and that the Ravenclaws won just because they were slightly less weak than the Hufflepuffs. The next game would be Slytherin against Ravenclaw but it wouldn't be played until after Christmas.

Rosalind and Gracie caught up to Poppy after the game. She was just walking next to Marcus when suddenly Gracie grabbed her coat and pulled her aside.

"Sorry, we need her!" Rosalind yelped at Marcus who was left standing there, completely dumbfounded. Gracie dragged Poppy a little further from the crowd that was heading towards the castle and then finally let go.

"What now?" Poppy asked. "What is so important that you had to pull me away from-"  
"From Flint?" Rosalind asked and raised an eyebrow.

"No, from the line of students all heading inside where it's nice and warm," Poppy said, frustrated.

"Well, we were just thinking that you seemed to be awfully close to him and wanted to know why," Gracie said and Rosalind nodded along.

"I did?" Poppy asked.

"Yeah, you did," Gracie said. "Is there any particular reason why you were suddenly walking right next to him and why during the game you looked like you were about to sit on his lap?"

"She's exaggerating a little," Rosalind said and rolled her eyes.

"No, I'm not. You just didn't notice because you were too busy looking at Cedric lose the game," Gracie huffed.

"Cedric? What, Diggory? Why were you looking at him?" Poppy asked and now she was really confused. She had apparently been getting cosier with Marcus while Rosalind had been eyeing up Cedric Diggory for some reason.

"They've got a date but that's not the point here! What is going on with you and Flint?" Gracie almost yelled.

"I was cold?" Poppy suggested and then turned to Rosalind. "You've got a date with Cedric Diggory?"

"Next saturday," Rosalind replied while Gracie's face was turning bright red and it looked like she was going to explode.

"You expect me to believe that you were cold? Seriously? As if I haven't known you for ages and know exactly when you're lying. I knew you fancied him before you even knew it yourself and now you're just going to stand there and feed me some excuse! As if I don't deserve to know what's happening!" Gracie ranted and when neither Poppy or Rosa knew what to say, she turned around and left, muttering under her breath as she went.

"She's angry," Poppy finally said to Rosa.  
"She thinks you don't tell us anything anymore but I know you will if there's something to tell," Rosalind replied and smiled.

"I didn't want to say anything, after the way she reacted to my plan of finding out Marcus' feelings," Poppy started explaining. "Well, it sort of backfired and he figured it out. Long story short, he likes me and I like him and now I don't know what to do."

"It'll work out, somehow. Just like my date with Cedric will work out, I hope. I'm sort of terrified," Rosalind said and Poppy chuckled.

"Well, at least your captain is age-appropriate," she said and Rosalind laughed nervously.

During the next week, Poppy tried not to appear too close to Marcus so nobody, especially Oliver, would get suspicious. Rosalind had told Gracie about Poppy's situation and all had been forgiven but Poppy did have to admit that her plan was tremendously stupid before Gracie agreed to talk to her again. McGonagall gathered the names of students staying at Hogwarts for Christmas and both Poppy and Marcus were staying. Oliver was going to their apartment in London and said that he had some important matters to tend to. Gracie and Rosa were going to spend Christmas with their families and even invited Poppy along but, as always, she declined. Christmas at Hogwarts was always the highlight of her school year and she couldn't possibly miss out on it.

The next trip to Hogsmeade was just around the corner, as was Cedric and Rosalind's date. Cedric was often seen carrying Rosa's books to class or sitting next to her at breakfast. Poppy found this amusing as seeing Rosa with a boy was about as common as seeing Grace without a piece of candy in her mouth. Poppy had thought she'd be spending the day at Hogsmeade with Gracie and wasn't too pleased to find out that Gracie had gotten herself a date too. It was with some boy from Hufflepuff, whose name was either Glenn or Charlie. Gracie wasn't too sure which one it was but she was going to find out on the date.

On the morning of the trip, Poppy was having breakfast and sitting next to Marcus.

"So, do you still want someone to take you to Hogsmeade and buy you things from Honeydukes?" Marcus asked. "I mean as, you know, a friend."

"Well sure. Both of my friends have dates anyway," Poppy replied and Marcus smiled at her. Poppy smiled back and they soon left for Hogsmeade where they headed straight to Honeydukes as did most students. It was one of the most popular shops.

"Whatever you want, I'll buy it," Marcus said as they entered the shop. Poppy looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"You don't really have to, I can buy my own candy," Poppy said and picked up a giant pink lollipop. Marcus then grabbed it from her hand.

"No arguments. You said you wanted someone to buy you things from Honeydukes and I will," Marcus retorted.  
"Yeah, a boyfriend," Poppy said and rolled her eyes. A few nearby Slytherins looked at her funnily. "And I was kidding."

After a little more bickering back and forth, Poppy gave in and allowed Marcus to buy her the lollipop and some chocolate frogs. He didn't buy anything for himself.

"I can't afford to eat a lot of sugar," he said. "I mean, have you seen my teeth?"

They headed towards The Three Broomsticks after the visit to Honeydukes. Poppy knew both Rosa and Gracie would be there on their dates since neither of them could stand the overly romantic tea shop where lots of couples went on dates. Poppy and Marcus sat in a corner table where she could see both Rosa and Gracie. Marcus laughed as Poppy scooted behind her butterbeer, trying to see what was happening while remaining undetected.

"You look really stupid right now," he said and chuckled. "I'm sure they'll be fine. It's just a date."

"Maybe you're right," Poppy mumbled and tried not to look too amused by the fact that Rosalind had just poured her butterbeer on Cedric's lap.

"So, there's a party next saturday," Marcus began.  
"What?"  
"A party. A Christmas type thing. And I was wondering if you'd like to go," Marcus continued and took a swig of his butterbeer.

"With you?" Poppy questioned.

"Sort of."

Poppy agreed but Marcus wouldn't give her any more details of the party except that it wouldn't be all Slytherins. Poppy was quite puzzled as she hadn't know that there were many parties at Hogwarts except the ones among the four houses. At the same time she was rather excited, even though she knew Marcus probably didn't mean they would go to the party together in the way she had imagined.


	14. PreParty Anxiety

**Chapter 14: Pre-Party Anxiety**

"I just love Christmas, don't you?" Gracie exclaimed as the three girls were walking down the hall and saw Hagrid and Filch putting up the last of the Christmas decorations. They had just gotten back from Hogsmeade and were happy to be inside the warm castle again.

"You say that about everything. A few weeks from now and you'll just love New Year's and then you'll love Easter and it goes on and on..." Rosalind pointed out and Poppy chuckled. It was true, Grace had a soft spot for every holiday imaginable.

"You forgot about Valentine's Day," Gracie said. "But anyway, moving on, how was your date with Cedric?"

"Oh, well, I think you saw most of it," Rosalind said and shrugged.

"No, we didn't!" Poppy exclaimed. "I only saw you pouring your drink all over him and I don't think Grace saw anything. She was too busy pouring herself all over Glenn."

"His name is Eric, actually," Gracie quipped and smirked.

"Well, anyway," Rosalind began. "It wasn't much. We mostly just talked."  
"That's good," Poppy said. "That's how a first date should be, right, Grace?"

Gracie glared at Poppy and mumbled something.

"He invited me to some party," Rosa continued, ignoring her friends. "It's the day before we go home for the holidays. He said I can bring Gracie and then I said I don't want to leave Poppy out of anything and he replied that Poppy is probably already going and that part sort of left me confused."  
"Well, Marcus invited me. I'm not sure what it is, he just said there's going to be students from other houses and that it's a party," Poppy replied. "I know as much as you do."

"Great! You both get invited and I'm just, what, left-overs?" Gracie said and frowned. Rosa patted her on the back and laughed. "Oh, well, at least I get to go. Poppy, how are you going to tell Oliver?"  
"Why would I tell him?" Poppy said snarkily.

"He might be invited."

Poppy stopped dead in her tracks. She hadn't even thought of that. Of course Oliver would be invited, why wouldn't he be? Marcus was invited and so was Cedric and Oliver wasn't exactly unpopular. But the more she thought about it, she realized he wasn't exactly the party-going kind either.

"He won't go," she said. "He doesn't go to parties."  
"Well, you don't know that," Rosalind noted. "He probably doesn't tell you everything, you know."  
"Why wouldn't he?"  
"Because you don't tell him everything?"

"Good point."

Poppy spent the next few days studying and trying to catch up with all of her assignments. Teachers seemed to be piling on more and more of them right before the holidays. She also had her last quidditch practice for the year. It was freezing and for once Marcus was fair and didn't have the team out in the cold for hours on end. Afterwards Poppy and Marcus enjoyed hot cocoa with their supper. Marcus said he would have preferred to have his with a splash of firewhiskey.

On Thursday, the day before the party, Poppy was nervous and she knew exactly why. She wasn't nervous about the party, she was actually excited to get to attend something with her friends. It seemed like it would be more fun than a strictly Slytherins only type of gathering. She was just a bit troubled about the fact that she was going with Marcus. Was he just her ticket into the party and then they would split up for the rest of the night? He had said they were going as friends but these days Poppy didn't really know what those words meant anymore. Would there be dancing? Would Marcus ask Poppy to dance or would he find some other girl to have fun with and make it seem like he was just doing Poppy a favour by bringing her to the party when in reality he didn't care at all? Would people think he was just pitying her for some reason? Mostly she was worried that her brain might explode before the party even began.

Grace and Rosalind had helped Poppy pick out what to wear earlier in the day. They weren't allowed in the Slytherin dorms so Poppy had lugged some of her clothes to the nearest girls bathroom and tried them on. Grace said that if Eric, her latest date, would be at the party she would smack him upside down for not inviting her. Rosa was a bit anxious as it would technically be her second date with Cedric Diggory.

On Friday, Marcus helped carry Poppy's herbology assignment to her class. They had only been given an essay to write on the growth of the Horned Philogus but there wasn't a lot of information to be found on it. Poppy had gone through all of the books in the library that even mentioned the plant and her book for class only described it briefly, so Poppy had decided to hunt down a seed and document the growth herself. The fully grown plant weighed about 90 pounds so she really needed Marcus to get it to the greenhouses. Poppy gave the plant to Professor Sprout along with her essay that was twice the length it was supposed to be and looked around to discover her classmates' disapproving looks.

Before Marcus exited the greenhouse, he leaned towards Poppy's ear and whispered, "You could have just flown this thing here."  
"I could have but I enjoyed this more," she smirked.

Professor Sprout congratulated Poppy on her ingenious idea and was happy to add one more Horned Philogus to her collection. After herbology, Poppy suffered through Muggle Studies and Potions which were usually some of her favourite subjects but today the classes just seemed to last forever. It felt as if the party would never start.


	15. The Annual Christmas Party

**Chapter 15: The Annual Christmas Party**

Before the party, a lot was happening in the Slytherin common room. Older boys were telling the younger students to go to their dormitories even though it was only six o'clock and a lot of the sixth and seventh year girls were disappearing into their dormitories giggling with their friends while others were sitting around the fireplace sulking. Poppy figured that they were the girls who didn't get invited but she was wondering why it seemed as if everyone knew what was going on. The party wasn't broadcast all over the school and she'd never heard of it before even though Marcus had sort of hinted that he'd been there before.

While Poppy was getting dressed, she kept peeking out the door just to see if Marcus was waiting for her. A lot of the Slytherin boys were sitting in the common room, some of them dressed really fancy and it seemed like they were waiting for their dates. Poppy's favourite people in the world, Victoria and her friends, were also getting dolled up for the evening. She was disappointed to see that they had apparently also been invited.

When she was ready, she stepped out to the common room to finally see Marcus there. He was clearly representing Slytherin with his dark green vest which he wore with a tidy black shirt and black pants. At least there was no snake pattern or silver, Poppy thought to herself.

"You look pretty," he said. She was wearing a simple black dress with a full skirt and black heels. Her blonde hair was lightly curled at the ends.

"You're not so bad yourself," she said with a smile and they headed for the door.

"Don't get carried away, we're just friends, right?" he smirked and left Poppy confused once again.

"Right, so what is this party, anyway?" Poppy changed the subject.  
"It's kind of an annual thing. Just a Christmas party to get everyone in the holiday spirit and give the four houses a chance to socialize," Marcus replied.

"Since when do you care about socializing with other houses?" Poppy teased and Marcus smiled.

"I don't, actually, but some people find it rewarding. They must be insane."

They were walking for what seemed like a long time and they seemed to be heading towards the quidditch pitch. When Poppy saw the doors leading outside she stopped.

"Is that where were headed? We'll freeze!" she exclaimed.

"Don't worry," Marcus replied as he opened the doors to reveal some sort of pathway that was surrounded by small lights. He stepped outside and didn't even shiver so Poppy followed and was surprised to find that the freezing weather outside seemed to have disappeared. She stuck her hand outside the lit path to see if she was right about the pathway being under a heating spell and she was. Marcus tugged on her hand a little bit to remind her that they should keep moving.

"How can this be here? What about the teachers? Or the dementors?" Poppy asked, amazed that something like this had been going on for who knows how many years without anyone knowing.

"I don't know, it's just really well organized," Marcus shrugged and it occurred to Poppy that he probably had not thought about it previously.

"By who? Who invited you?" Poppy continued.

"Not sure. Every year I just get a note and it tells me where to go and when," Marcus explained. "This year was exciting, though, I got my first note that told me I could bring a guest. It said that I can bring you but not anyone else. If I had brought anyone else, I'd be barred from upcoming parties which probably wouldn't matter since I won't be here next year."

"What if I didn't want to come?" Poppy asked.

"Then you wouldn't have come and I would've come alone. Simple."

They arrived at the locker rooms of the quidditch pitch. They were nicely decorated with Christmas ornaments on the doors and some lights going around them. A familiar person was standing at the door, Poppy recognized him as Ernie Macmillan, a third-year Hufflepuff.

"Ah, Mister Flint!" Ernie exclaimed in his typical, pompous manner and then turned to face Poppy with a smile. "I see you've brought the lovely Miss Wood. I hope you both have a lovely evening."

He opened the doors behing him and Poppy and Marcus walked in.

"They have to make sure nobody uninvited gets in," Marcus explained. "And dorks like him can guard the doors to earn themselves an invite for next year."

A lot of students were already there. Poppy recognised a lot of fellow Slytherins and some Hufflepuffs. Fred and George Weasley from the Gryffindor quidditch team were there but luckily there was no sign of Oliver, at least yet. Rosalind was sitting on a big, velvet couch with Cedric by the wall and Gracie had parked herself by the punch bowl and was offering to pour drinks for any boys that walked past.

Poppy didn't want to disturb Rosa and Cedric so she decided to make her way to Gracie. She was sort of surprised when Marcus followed her there.

"Want some punch?" Gracie asked as soon as they reached her and held out a cup.

"I didn't know you were working at this party," Poppy said jokingly but took the cup as Gracie poured one for Marcus.

"Ha, ha. This is the best way to meet everybody," Gracie said.

"Who is there to meet? You go to school with these twats and see them everyday," Marcus said and took a sip of his drink. This was also surprising to Poppy as to her knowledge Marcus and Gracie had never said more than two words to eachother.

"True, but tonight almost everybody is dressed really fancy and even boys have done their hair. Even you look almost presentable," Gracie quipped. "Nobody is wearing an ugly uniform or anything."

"You know, somebody might think you're a wee bit shallow," Marcus said with a grin and Poppy laughed.

"Well, what do you know, he actually makes you laugh," Gracie said with a smile. "And I thought you were lying."

"Yes, well, anyway," Poppy began to change the subject. "How're Rosa and Cedric doing?"

"They haven't done anything interesting, really," Gracie said with a mock frown. "He has been stroking her hair, though, but that's about it."

They moved to one of the other couches and just sat for at least half an hour, talking about things that could not have been less interesting to Marcus but it seemed like he was there to stay. Poppy had sort of assumed that they wouldn't spend much time together. Then Gracie brought up the subject of boys, which Poppy thought would scare him off but no.

"So, remember when I said I would smack Eric if he came to this party without me?" Gracie started and was looking around frantically.

"Yes," Poppy answered and sort of saw where this was going.  
"He's here! With some Ravenclaw!" Gracie almost shouted and Poppy tried to shush her.

Marcus, who Poppy didn't think was even listening at this point, chimed in: "Eric Mangle?"

"Yes," Gracie said.

"He is such a tosser. Last year he took Higgs' sister out on a date and then ditched her in the middle of it to go off with his friends instead," Marcus said. "Terence whined about it for weeks and then I finally told him to go punch the guy. He ended up in detention and a week later Mangle took his sister out again, only to do the exact same thing twice. She wasn't really the sharpest witch but yeah, Mangle sure isn't worth anyone's time."

"That's horrible!" Poppy exclaimed and Gracie nodded along.

"True but now you," he said, looking at Grace. "need to get your mind off of him and I suggest you do that by asking one of those Weasleys to dance."

"What?" Gracie asked, somewhat shocked.

"Are you scared they'll say no?" Marcus smirked and Gracie was already up before he could finish his sentence. She went up to one of the Weasley twins and sure enough, 20 seconds later they were dancing.

"You should know, she isn't scared of anything," Poppy remarked as she watched Gracie dancing with slight amusement.

"I figured. And I kind of wanted to spend some time with just you," he replied and Poppy was sure she was blushing.

Then, she noticed Gracie had stopped dancing and was staring straight at her while nudging her head towards the door. Poppy turned to see what was happening and there he was. Her beloved brother, Marcus' nemesis and the subject of Gryffindor girls' fantasies, Oliver Wood. He was standing at the door, looking at Poppy and Marcus with a look that screamed hatred and confusion at the same time. The Weasleys quickly rushed to the door, took Oliver by the arms and almost dragged him somewhere further away.

"I should probably go talk to him," Poppy said and got up. She found Oliver and the Weasleys outside and told them that it was ok. They went back inside but said that they wouldn't go very far.

Oliver looked angrier than ever before and this just made Poppy angry at him. She knew Marcus understood Oliver's point of view but she still couldn't. Why was Oliver trying to run her life for her? Who was he to say who she can and can't be friends with? Before Oliver had a chance to say anything, Poppy was already screaming at him.

"What is your problem?" she shouted and he looked taken aback. "I know you hate him because he's a Slytherin but guess what, so am I!"  
"I don't hate him for that! I hate him because of all the little things that you seem to be completely blind to and I cannot understand why you would want to be with someone like that!" Oliver yelled and before Poppy responded, he continued. "And don't try to tell me you're just friends, I know what friendship looks like and that's not it!"

"So you're not just angry at him, you're angry at me too?" Poppy asked.

"Yes! He's violent, he drinks, he cheats, he smokes and once he gets what he wants he will leave you! Why can't you see that?" Oliver shouted.

"You don't know him! How can you say stuff like that when you don't really know anything about him?" Poppy yelled.

"Because I grew up with that! Mom brought home hundreds of guys like him and I had to take care of her when they all left! And I had to make sure you didn't see most of it!" Oliver shouted. "And I don't want to be the one to pick up the pieces when he breaks you!"

Poppy was taken aback. Oliver's face was red and his anger seemed to be fading to sadness. He sat down on the wet grass. She didn't know what to say anymore. Suddenly, Marcus walked outside. He appeared to have heard everything, which made Poppy think that so had everyone else. Marcus walked up to Poppy and took her hands into his.

"You should go," he said. Poppy looked confused and Marcus squuezed her hands, reassuring her that it was ok. She walked back inside and looked back one more time before opening the door and saw that Marcus was sitting next to Oliver. Once she got inside, everybody was still partying and nobody seemed to even notice her. Rosa and Gracie ran up to her and asked what had happened.

"You didn't hear any of that?" Poppy asked, confused.

"No, Flint put up some spell," Rosa said and Poppy sighed of relief.

"Good. I'll tell you later, right now I just want a drink."


	16. The Prince and The Drunk Lady

**Chapter 16: The Prince and The Drunk Lady**

Marcus didn't mean to eavesdrop but he couldn't help it. After he'd gotten rid of the Weasleys and conjured a silencing spell, he had moved a few steps further and confirmed that nothing from the outside could be heard inside. Then his curiosity got the best of him and he slowly stepped closer towards the door. It was open a little bit, so he could hear quite well. Nobody seemed to notice him lurking around the door as the party was back in full swing. Everybody had noticed Oliver arriving but nobody really seemed to care about what had happened.

Marcus could hear Oliver listing all of Marcus' bad qualities, Poppy shouting back, Oliver yelling things about their mum and then everything went silent. Marcus thought maybe he should go see what was going on. He walked outside to see Oliver sitting on the ground and Poppy standing next to him. Marcus took her hands and told her to go inside. Then he slowly sat next to Oliver and when Oliver didn't immediately start throwing punches, Marcus assumed he was safe.

"My mother died giving birth to me," Marcus started when he saw that Poppy had left. Oliver looked up at him from the ground, slightly confused and as if he'd been holding back tears. "My father raised me and he wasn't exactly what you would call a loving father. You know how some wealthy people let nannies raise their children?"

Oliver nodded.

"I wasn't one of those lucky children. My father believed in discipline, sometimes even on a physical level. I wasn't allowed to do much of anything at home so as soon as I got to school, I started acting out. I suppose that's where the drinking and smoking comes from," Marcus continued.

"Violence, too, I suppose," he added after a short pause. "Some people might say that I'm exactly like my father but I disagree. I think the main difference is the fact that I have the ability to love."

Oliver chuffed and Marcus grinned and continued, "Yeah, sounds cheesy, I know. But I truly believe he never loved anyone after my mother died."

"How is this relevant to me?" Oliver asked.

"You love Poppy and you want to protect her," Marcus said. Oliver nodded. "That's why you packed up and left your mother as soon as you could and you took her with you. When I turned seventeen, I emptied my bank vault and got myself an apartment. My father found out and tried to beat me as I was leaving. He hadn't tried to hit me in a few years, because he knew I was stronger than him but this time he was clearly full of rage. I suppose he wanted me to stay with him forever."

"What happened?" Oliver asked.

"I took him down with one punch. It was the first time I'd ever hit him. After that I've never looked back," Marcus replied.

"I'm not really sure why you're telling me this but I'm beginning to think the underlying message here is that you love her, too," Oliver said and Marcus sort of smiled. "I also think you may be telling me that I was a bit harsh when I kind of said she was acting like our mom."

"Perhaps," Marcus said.

"The thing is, it doesn't matter if you turn out to be the best guy in the world, because of the age difference I'm not sure I could ever accept this relationship," Oliver said.

"That's sort of a moral problem for myself as well. I didn't exactly plan on falling for her but the more you fight her on this, the more she will want to be with me and that might really drive a wedge between you two."

They both got up from the ground and made their way towards the door. Marcus opened it and Oliver stepped inside. Marcus followed and was just about to ask if he could ask Poppy to dance, when he noticed Oliver looking at something. Actually, a lot of the students seemed fixated on something, or rather, someone in the middle of the room. A blonde-haired girl with a black dress was jumping on one of the couches with a drink in her hand and singing loudly and very much out of tune to the music.

"Poppy!" Oliver exclaimed. He sounded angry while Marcus looked at Poppy with slight amusement. "What on earth do you think you're doing?"  
"I'm having fun, big brother! You should try it!" Poppy yelled while laughing and doing another spin on the couch while spilling some of her drink. Gracie was slightly holding on to Poppys legs, making sure she didn't fall and Rosalind was nowhere to be seen. "This is the best party ever!"  
"Me thinks the lady might be a wee bit tipsy," Marcus said with a smile and Oliver shot him a look of death.

"If you don't get off that couch right now..." Oliver started but Poppy just stuck her tongue out and continued singing. Most of the students around seemed to find the situation funny, somebody had a camera out and a few were just looking around to see if anyone else was disgusted.

"One ought not come to a party if one has no sense of humor," Marcus proclaimed and Oliver glared at him again. Then he started walking towards Poppy, but Marcus quickly swooped ahead of him and said, "I've got this, mate."

Then Marcus walked over, grabbed Poppy by the waist and placed her on his shoulder so that her legs were in the front. Gracie took Poppys drink, much to her dismay, and Marcus walked out while some of the students clapped and whistled.

"My prince has come to save me from the evil dragon!" Poppy exclaimed before they exited and Marcus heard a roar of laughter from behind them. He carried her like that all the way to the Slytherin dungeons and somewhere on the way she either fell asleep or passed out. Since he couldn't enter the girls dormitory, he placed her on his own bed and tucked her in and as he was exiting the dormitory, she suddenly woke up.

"Where are you going?" Poppy asked quietly.

"I'll sleep in the common room. You just sleep there, okay?" Marcus replied.

"No, you have to come here. You're my prince," she whispered.

He moved closer to the bed and sat on the edge of it.

"Are you sure? You are quite drunk," he asked.

"Absolutely," she said with a smile. Marcus hesitated for a while but then he lifted the covers and got in the bed next to her. He thought it was innocent enough, they were both fully clothed and everything. It wasn't until Poppy fell asleep again and wrapped her arms around him while scooting in even closer that he felt he might've done something wrong again.


	17. A Rude Awakening

**Chapter 17: A Rude Awakening**

The next morning, Poppy woke up in an unfamiliar place. As she slowly opened her eyes she recognised the green and silver drapes around the bed, the same ones that adorned the beds in her dormitory. The blanket that she was under felt familiar and soft but something wasn't right. The bed seemed much larger than her own and there was a different smell in the air. Usually when she woke up, the scent of Mary or Beckys perfume was lingering in the air, and Victoria was packing on some powder that didn't really smell like anything but left the air sort of dusty. The biggest giveaway that she wasn't in her own bed probably should have been the fact that there was a boy, or rather, a man sleeping next to her.

Poppy sat up in the bed and rubbed her forehead. She was feeling quite groggy and couldn't exactly remember what had happened last night. She noticed that she was still wearing her party dress and she had apparently slept with her shoes on. Poppy then decided that maybe it wasn't a good idea to get up just yet and she laid down again. When she rolled over, she finally noticed the person next to her. Poppy screamed out of fright and the man was quickly awakened.

"Shut up!" somebody in the room yelled. Poppy now knew where she was. She was in Marcus' dormitory and he was now sitting up on the bed, rubbing his eyes and trying to see what was happening.

"Why are you screaming?" he finally asked with a whisper, sounding very sleepy.

"I didn't know where I was," Poppy replied.

"Oh," Marcus said and laid back again, closing his eyes. "That's okay, go back to sleep."

It didn't seem very smart to continue sleeping while all of Marcus' roommates were around them but Poppy was too tired to argue with herself about what was smart or the right thing to do. So she allowed herself to drift back to a world of dreams.

A few hours later they were both awakened by the sound of somebodys alarm clock. Poppy was about to get up when Marcus gently took her hand and pressed his finger against her lips. They lay in bed for a while, completely silent and listening to Marcus' roommates getting dressed and scurrying off for breakfast. When he was sure they were gone, he opened the drapes around the bed.

"You may not want them to know you were here," he said.

"They might remember me screaming," she replied and he shook his head.

"Nah, only one woke up and he'll probably think it was a dream," Marcus said and smiled. Poppy was holding her head with one hand and taking her heels off with another. "Headache?"  
"A bit, maybe," Poppy replied.

"Well, there's nothing a good breakfast won't fix," he said cheerfully. "Why don't you go get changed and I'll do the same and then we'll meet in the common room?"

Poppy agreed and headed towards her own dormitory. None of her roommates were there. Luckily they had apparently went to breakfast early. Today was the day that most of the students headed home for the holidays and they wouldn't return until after New Years. Poppy really liked spending her holidays at school since it was so quiet. She always had the dormitory all to herself and Victoria and her friends used to make fun of Poppy for "not having a home to go to for Christmas" but this year they hadn't done anything of the sort.

Poppys head was filled with noise and she still couldn't remember last night. She had clearly had something to drink but wasn't exactly sure why. She remembered Oliver showing up to the Christmas Party and that something had definitely happened but was it good or bad?

She got dressed and went down to the common room. Some students were pointing at her and whispering. This wasn't new to Poppy but it hadn't happened in a while so she got even more worried about the previous night. She noticed Marcus waiting for her by the door and quickly hurried over, grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the common room. Once outside, she dragged him to a quiet corner.

"What exactly happened last night?" Poppy questioned with a firm but worried voice.

"You don't remember?" Marcus said with a slight smile.

"Obviously I don't remember! I wouldn't be asking if I did!" Poppy snapped. Marcus was not taking the situation seriously enough. She had woken up in his bed with a banging headache and little to no recollection of the party. Her friend Grace would've deemed the party a success based on this.

"Well, Oliver showed up and you two went to yell outside, then he and I talked and when we got back inside you had apparently thought it would be a good idea to drink all the punch and then dance on the couch," Marcus explained. Poppy looked mortified and suddenly parts of the evening started flashing through her mind. "At that point I carried you off to sleep and I offered to sleep in the common room but you insisted I sleep next to you."

"Right, it's all sort of coming back to me. Thank you, I guess," Poppy said and still looked like she couldn't believe it.

They started heading towards breakfast and Poppy wanted to know what Marcus and Oliver had to talk about. He wouldn't give any details but implied that they understood each other better now. Poppy was shocked. At The Great Hall, they went to sit at the end of the Slytherin table. Some students were looking at them funnily but everybody seemed to be more interested in the upcoming holidays. Gracie and Rosalind waved Poppy over right as she was stuffing her face with a muffin. She excused herself and walked over to her friends.

Gracie looked almost as if she'd walked straight to breakfast from the party with her smudgy mascara and slightly messy hair but fortunately she had exchanged her party frock to a jumper and skirt. Poppy chuckled a bit at the sight and received a death glare from Gracie.

"Is that how you're going home?" Poppy asked.

"I'll have plenty of time to clean up on the train," Gracie said. "And sleep. Lots of sleep."

"She didn't get back from the party until maybe three hours ago," Rosalind explained. Poppy couldn't help but laugh.

"So, a good party then?" Poppy asked and Gracie nodded.

"Yup, me and George Weasley had a wonderful time," she said with a grin. Rosalind rolled her eyes and Poppy was surprised even though there was really no reason to be.

"Moving on," Rosalind said quickly before Grace shared the details. "Poppy, I heard about what happened but we don't know what happened afterwards."

"Oh, yeah, that's right! You weren't there. Where were you?" Poppy said and hoped that this was a good enough subject change.

"She went for a moonlit broom ride with Cedric," Gracie said before Rosalind could open her mouth. Rosalind glared at Grace. "What? It wasn't a secret or anything."

"Yes, well, that happened," Rosalind said and Gracie cut her off.

"And it was lovely and romantic and my boyfriend Cedric is the best there is," she said in a mock voice. Poppy laughed while Rosalind punched Gracies arm. Then she looked firmly at Poppy, who tried to avoid her gaze but failed.

"Fine, come closer," Poppy said and motioned the girls to get within whispering distance. Then she quietly said, "This morning, I woke up in Marcus' bed."

Gracie spat out about half of her pumpkin smoothie and effectively turned a first year students white shirt orange. Rosalind apologised on Gracies behalf and quickly returned the shirt to its original colour with a spell.

"Nothing happened, of course," Poppy continued. "He put me there to sleep and I asked him to sleep next to me and then he did."

"Your stories are the worst. They start out with a bang and then it's like oh, it wasn't a bang it was just a pop," Gracie complained and then noticed a lot of the students were hurrying back to their dormitories. "We should go so we don't miss the train. I still have to pack my pillow for the trip."

Poppy and her friends got up and they all hugged and wished eachother happy holidays. Then Rosalind and Gracie scurried away with the rest of the students and Poppy returned to her table.

"I guess it's just me and you then," Marcus said as she got there and motioned towards Grace, Rosa and Oliver who were all leaving the school for Christmas.

"And the dementors," Poppy quipped. "You, me and the dementors are going to have a lovely Christmas."


End file.
